THE 

INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

ON  THE  LITERARY  CAREER 


OF 


ALPHONSE   DE  LAMARTINE 


BY 


AGIDE  PIRAZZINI 


UC-NRLF 


Submitted  in  Partial  Fulfilment  of  the  Require- 
ments for  the  Degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy, 
in  the  Faculty  of  Philosophy,  Columbia 
University 


COLUMBIA    UNIVERSITY    PRESS 
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Columbia  (Hnibersitp 

STUDIES  IN  ROMANCE  PHILOLOGY  AND 

LITERATURE 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

ON  THE  LITERARY  CAREER  OF 

ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 
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THE 

INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

ON  THE  LITERARY  CAREER 
OF 

ALPHONSE   DE   LAMARTINE 

BY 

AGIDE  PIRAZZINI 


Submitted  in  Partial  Fulfilment  op  the  Require- 
ments for  the  Degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy, 
in  the  Faculty  of  Philosophy,  Columbia 
University 


/fteto  IPorfe 
COLUMBIA    UNIVERSITY    PRESS 

1917 


Copyright,  191 7 
By  Columbia  University  Press 


Printed  from  type,  December,  191 7 


Approved  for  publication,  on  behalf  of  the  Department 
of  Romance  Languages  and  Literatures  of  Columbia 
University. 

Henry  Alfred  Todd 

New  York,  November,  1917. 


37^).;, 


PREFACE 

While  much  has  been  written  in  recent  years 
regarding  some  of  the  influences  exerted  by  Italy 
on  Lamartine's  literary  productions,  no  work 
has  yet  been  published  attempting  to  trace  this 
influence,  in  a  connected  and  systematic  form, 
and  as  a  fundamental  and  persistent  element, 
from  the  time  of  his  earlier  adolescence,  when 
he  began  to  understand  and  to  appreciate  the 
beauties  of  literature,  to  the  very  end  of  his  literary 
career,  when  he  was  writing  the  Cours  familier 
de  litterature,  only  some  ten  or  twelve  years 
before  his  death. 

For  a  number  of  years  past  it  has  been  my  ear- 
nest endeavor  to  collect  facts,  to  discover  evi- 
dences, to  bring  to  light  statements  which  in 
their  isolated  form  did  not  seem  to  have  much 
meaning,  but  which,  duly  coordinated  and  inter- 
preted, have  tended  to  establish  more  and  more 
definitely  the  opinion  that  the  influence  of  Italy 
on  Lamartine  was  much  deeper  and  more  impor- 
tant than  heretofore  has  been  supposed. 

The  study  of  Italian  sources  and  authorities,  as 
well  as  personal  visits  and  investigations  in  several 


viii  PREFACE 

of  the  localities  where  Lamartine  resided,  have 
yielded  a  number  of  data  and  opinions  that  hith- 
erto have  been  little  considered  or  entirely 
overlooked  by  students  of  Lamartine's  literary 
career.  Without  a  personal  acquaintance  with 
some  of  the  localities  involved,  it  would  not  have 
been  possible  to  correct  certain  erroneous  im- 
pressions produced  by  statements  of  Lamartine 
himself,  which  have  gone  unchallenged ;  and  with- 
out a  knowledge  not  only  of  the  Italian  language 
but  of  some  of  its  dialects  as  well,  certain  con- 
clusions could  not  have  been  reached.  Moreover, 
in  the  use  made  of  the  documents  furnished  by 
Lamartine's  own  writings,  I  have  been  guided 
by  considerations  somewhat  different  from  those 
of  merely  historical  import.  This  is  due  to  the 
nature  of  the  present  work.  We  are  here  dealing 
with  the  sources  of  Lamartine's  artistic  emotions, 
with  his  subjective  experiences,  and  therefore  the 
external  events  of  his  career  have  no  interest  for 
us  except  in  so  far  as  they  have  a  direct  or  indirect 
bearing  on  his  literary  activities.  For  this  reason 
the  documents  written  in  the  later  years  of 
Lamartine's  life  have  been  regarded  as  more 
important,  for  the  author's  immediate  purpose, 
than  those  of  an  earlier  date;  and  accordingly, 
wherever  possible,  quotations  have  been  made 
from  them,  as  showing  what  emotional  elements 


PREFACE  ix 

from  his  experiences  of  earlier  years  had  per- 
manently survived  in  Lamartine's  mind  and 
heart,  so  that  they  had  become  an  essential  part 
of  himself.  Thus  the  Confidences,  the  Nouvelles 
Confidences,  the  Cours  familier  de  litterature 
have  been  regarded  as  of  more  value  than  even 
the  Correspondance,  which  oftentimes  represents 
only  a  passing  impression  on  the  writer  and  forms 
the  record  of  feelings  which  were  soon  obliterated 
from  his  memory,  unless  indeed  they  became  the 
immediate  source  of  political  and  artistic  produc- 
tion. Surely,  the  facts  related  by  Lamartine 
many  years  after  the  events  took  place  may  be 
quite  inaccurately  recorded  from  the  historical 
point  of  view,  and,  indeed,  some  of  these  inaccura- 
cies have  been  pointed  out  and  rectified  in  the  fol- 
lowing pages.  Yet,  after  all,  it  was  not  from 
barren  realities  but  from  idealized  mental  pic- 
tures that  Lamartine  drew  his  inspirations! 

Thus  the  real  Graziella  would  have  remained  an 
altogether  commonplace  figure  and  the  everyday 
happenings  at  that  time  in  Naples  altogether 
vulgar,  had  not  the  artistic  soul  of  Lamartine, 
by  the  long  continued  poetical  meditation  of  sub- 
sequent years,  evoked  the  picture  of  the  charm- 
ing "Graziella"  of  the  Confidences,  ennobled  by 
his  imagination  and  idealized  by  his  love.  This 
is  the  only  true  Graziella,  ever  present  in  the 


x  PREFACE 

poet's  mind,  ever  reappearing  in  his  poetry  even 
when  he  is  singing  of  other  women,  even  when 
he  is  reflecting  on  subjects  apparently  unrelated 
to  her  or  to  her  environment.  All  this  I  have 
endeavored  to  show  in  the  following  monograph, 
which  is  intended  to  be  a  point  of  departure 
rather  than  an  exhaustive  treatment  of  all  the 
literary  and  historical  questions  involved  in  so 
large  a  problem. 

Lamartine's  literary  career  may  be  compared 
to  a  great  modern  symphony.  To  understand 
its  unity,  its  unifying  idea,  in  the  midst  of  so  many 
instruments  of  differing  forms  and  functions,  it 
is  necessary  to  discover  the  "leitmotiv"  running 
through  the  whole  composition.  There  may  be 
secondary  "  motives,"  but  they  are  limited  in  their 
extent  and  their  recurrence;  the  principal  "motif" 
runs  through  the  music  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end.  The  aim  of  this  dissertation  is  to  show 
that  the  " leitmotiv"  in  Lamartine's  literary 
career  is  furnished  by  Italy,  and  if  in  spite  of 
defects  and  limitations  this  thesis  is  found  to  have 
been  established,  I  feel  that  my  task  has  been 
accomplished : 

Sic  tamen  erit  consummatus !     (2  Mace,  xv:  40) 

A.  P. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction . .         1 

PART  I 

Chapter  I.  Lamartine's  childhood.  —  His  first  im- 
pressions of  the  Italian  poets.  —  Tasso  and  the 
Jerusalem  Delivered 5 

Chapter  II.  College  friends  of  Lamartine.  —  His 
impressions  of  Ariosto  and  Alfieri.  —  Corinne  ou 
Vltalie 10 

Chapter  III.  Early  love  affairs.  —  Lamartine  sent 
to  Italy.  —  His  impressions  of  Italian  manners, 
and  of  Italian  university  life 15 

Chapter  IV.  Lamartine  and  the  Countess  of  Al- 
bany. —  Visit  to  Tasso's  sepulchre r .  .*'■•  /.       22 

Chapter  V.   Lamartine    at    Naples.  —  Graziella.  — 

Italian  origin  of  Le  Crucifix * . .       28 

PART   II 

Chapter  I.   Return  of  Lamartine  to  France.  —  The 

Saul  of  Alfieri  and  of  Lamartine 45 

Chapter  II.    La  Mart  de  Jonathas.  —  Jacopo  Ortis 

and  J  sepolcri  of  Foscolo 59 

Chapter  III.  Julia's  death  and  Lamartine's  imita- 
tions of  Petrarch.  —  His  ideas  of  colonization. 
—  His  marriage.  —  Rome  and  Naples 64 

Chapter  IV.  Lamartine  and  "The  Carbonari." — 
Meeting    with    Gioacchino    Rossini.  —  Amain 

and  the  so-called  Calabrian  song 72 

xi 


xii  CONTENTS 

Chapter   V.   La  sentinella.  —  Lamartine   and   the 

Duchess  of  Devonshire 82 

Chapter  VI.  Lamartine  and  Charles  Albert.  —  The 
Cinque  Maggio  of  Manzoni  and  Bonaparte  of 
Lamartine 90 

PART  III 

Chapter  I.   Meeting    with    Delphine    Gay.  —  Val- 

lombrosa.  —  Antoir  and  Jocelyn 99 

Chapter  II.  The  Fifth  Canto  of  Childe  Harold.  — 
Giuseppe  Giusti.  —  Lamartine's  duel  with  Ga- 
briele  Pepe  .  .  . 105 

Chapter  III.   La  Perte  de  VAnio.  —  Lamartine  and 

the  Princess  Aldobrandini 113 

Chapter  IV.  The  literary  friends  of  "Varramista." 
—  Sojourn  at  Leghorn.  —  The  Countess  of 
Saluzzo 119 

Chapter  V.   Lamartine  and  Alessandro  Manzoni.  — 

Angelica  Palli.  —  Visit  to  Ferrara 124 

Chapter  VI.   Les  harmonies  poetiques  et  religieuses.      130 

Chapter  VII.  Direct  influence  of  Italy  on  the  Har- 
monies       138 

Chapter  VIII.   Lamartine's  correspondence  and  the 

chronology  of  his  life 144 

Chapter  IX.  Lamartine's  old  age.  —  Dante  and 
Petrarch  in  the  Cours  familier  de  litterature.  — 
Originality  of  Lamartine 149 


INTRODUCTION 

"Tasso,  mon  premier  poete  ..." 
"  Corinne,  mon  premier  roman  ! " 1 

All  of  Lamartine's  early  experiences  in  the 
vast  field  of  the  world's  literature  are  included 
in  the  above  brief  formulary.  In  those  open- 
ing years  of  his  life,  it  was  a  great  epic  poet  of 
Italy  and  a  great  romance  about  Italy,  which 
filled  his  heart  and  mind. 

In  Tasso's  works  he  met  with  the  most  refined 
feelings  that  can  be  aroused  in  an  Italian  heart 
when  meditating  upon  the  loftiest  themes  of 
love,  of  religion  and  of  honor,  expressed  in  the 
matchless  verses  of  an  immortal  poet.  In  Co- 
rinne  he  found  the  most  tender  emotions  that 
Italy  —  her  wonderful  sky,  her  glorious  memo- 
ries —  can  arouse  in  the  sympathetic  soul  of  an 
exquisite  woman  who  is  also  a  great  artist,  and 
who,  though  born  under  another  sky,  might 
have  spoken  of  Italy  in  the  words  which  Lamar- 
tine,  in  later  years,  addressed  to  the  author  of 
the  Leper  of  Aosta: 

On  est  toujours,  crois-moi,  du  pays  que  Ton  aime ! 2 

1  Preface  aux  Recueillements. 

2  Harmonies.     Le  Retour. 


2  INTRODUCTION 

These  echoes  of  Italy  resounded  in  the  soul 
and  mind  of  Lamartine  when  he  was  still  a  child; 
they  made  his  heart  throb  when  developing  into 
manhood;  they  comforted  his  later  years  —  years 
when,  sad  and  dejected,  the  messages  of  love 
from  his  ever  loyal  friends  of  "Varramista" 
brought  a  ray  of  bright  Italian  sunshine  into 
the  gloom  that  surrounded  him  on  every  side.3 

He  then  remembered  the  happy  days  he  had 
passed  under  the  brilliant  sky  of  Tuscany,  when, 
as  a  happy  husband,  as  a  proud  father,  as  a  re- 
spected diplomat,  as  an  admired  poet,  he  felt 
all  the  fascination  of  that 

.  .  .  magna  parens  frugum 
Saturnia  tellus ! 

Echoes  of  Italy  were  mingled  with  the  memo- 
ries of  his  childhood  days,  passed  at  the  little 
country-house  of  Milly,  when  his  father  used  to 
read  aloud  from  Tasso  to  the  happy  family 
gathered  around  him;  young  Italian  noblemen 
were  among  his  college  friends ;  under  the  serene 
sky  of  Naples  his  heart  first  awoke  to  the 
throbs  of  real  passion  for  his  never-to-be-for- 
gotten Graziella;  in  the  solemn  city  of  Rome  he 
first  felt  the  joy  of  fatherhood,  while,  not  long 
after,  his  tears  w7ere  shed  upon  that  soil  which 

3  See  Chaps,  iv  and  vn  of  this  Essay. 


INTRODUCTION  3 

had  become  still  more  sacred  and  dear  to  him 
since  it  had  opened  to  receive  the  mortal  form 
of  the  first-born  of  his  wedded  love.  In  view  of 
all  this,  it  was  but  natural  that  the  lyre  of  the 
poet  should  re-echo  the  melodies  produced  in 
his  soul  by  his  inner  experiences. 

It  is  our  endeavor  in  the  following  pages  to 
show,  as  far  as  may  be  possible,  to  what  extent 
Italy  and  her  memories  influenced  the  life  and 
work  of  the  poet  who  called  her  "cette  seconde 
patrie  de  mes  yeux  et  de  mon  coeur,"  of  him  who 
might  have  said,  like  Browning's  Italian  patriot: 

"Open  my  heart  and  you  will  see 
Written  inside  of  it  Italy  !" 

A.  P. 


PART  FIRST 
CHAPTER  I 

LAMARTINE's  CHILDHOOD  —  FIRST  IMPRESSIONS 
OF  THE  ITALIAN  POETS  —  TASSO  AND  THE 
JERUSALEM  DELIVERED 

In  a  little  country-house  at  Milly,  near  Macon, 
far  from  the  tumults  and  the  tempests  which 
the  Reign  of  the  Terror  had  awakened  through- 
out France  and  Europe,  the  family  of  the  noble 
Chevalier  de  Lamartine  had  retired,  after  hav- 
ing but  lately  escaped  from  the  deadly  kiss  of 
Madame  La  Guillotine,  who  had  been  for  a 
long  season  only  too  eager  to  shed  the  blood  of 
the  hated  "aristocrates,"  proved  guilty  of  not 
loving  her  friends,  the  Sans-Culottes. 

In  the  quietness  of  the  country,  surrounded 
by  the  beauty  of  nature,  Alphonse  de  Lamartine's 
early  childhood  was  passed,  and  it  was  there 
that  the  melodious  accents  of  an  Italian  poet 
for  the  first  time  caused  to  vibrate  in  his  heart 
the  chords  of  poetry  which  afterwards  burst 
into  melody  and  produced  the  wonderful  Har- 
monies that  charm  us  to-day.  Nothing  can 
better  describe  Lamartine's  feelings  at  this  time 


6  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

than  a  quotation  from  his  own  memories  which, 
though  written  years '  afterwards,  show  us  con- 
clusively how  lasting  was  the  impression  those 
early  scenes  had  made  on  his  heart  and  imag- 
ination. 

This  is  the  translation  of  Lamartine's  narrative: 

The  shades  of  night  are  falling  fast.  The  gates  of 
the  little  country-house  of  Milly  near  Macon,  are 
already  closed.  From  time  to  time  the  barking  of  a 
dog  is  heard,  while  the  autumn  rain  keeps  beating 
against  the  window-panes,  and  the  wind,  blowing 
amidst  the  trees,  produces  at  intervals  a  kind  of  plain- 
tive and  melancholy  sound. 

The  room  where  the  family  is  gathered  is  almost 
entirely  bare  of  furniture.  At  its  extremity  is  an 
alcove  with  one  bed  and,  at  the  foot  of  it,  two  baby- 
cradles.  Facing  the  open  fire-place,  with  his  elbow 
resting  on  a  table,  a  man  is  seated  holding  a  book  in 
his  hand.  It  is  the  Chevalier  de  Lamartine.  Sitting 
upon  an  easy-chair  is  a  lady  still  very  youthful-looking, 
though  she  has  just  completed  her  thirtieth  birthday. 
She  is  holding  in  her  arms  a  sleeping  baby-girl:  the 
other  two  little  sisters  are  already  asleep  in  the  two 
little  cradles  afore-mentioned.  Still  another  little  girl, 
seated  on  a  low  stool,  is  resting  her  blond  head  on  her 
mother's  knee. 

And  now  Lamartine  speaks  in  the  first  person : 

My  father  is  holding  a  book  in  his  hands.  He  is 
reading  in  a  loud  voice.  I  still  can  hear  the  sound  of 
his  manly,  full,  nervous  and  withal  flexible  voice, 
rolling  on  in  large  and  sonorous  sentences,  sometimes 
interrupted  by  the  wind  blowing  against  the  windows. 
My  mother,  with  her  head  slightly  bent,  is  listening 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE  7 

dreamily.  As  to  myself,  my  face  is  turned  toward  my 
father  and  my  arm  is  resting  upon  one  of  his  knees, 
while  I  am  drinking  in  every  word;  I  am  anticipating 
every  narrative,  I  am  devouring  the  book  whose  pages 
are  too  slowly  unrolling  for  my  impatient  imagina- 
tion. Now,  what  book  is  it,  this  first  book  the  reading 
of  which,  thus  heard  at  the  entrance  of  life,  teaches  me 
what  a  book  really  is,  and  opens  to  me,  so  to  say,  the 
world  of  emotion,  of  love  and  of  revery? 

This  book  is  the  Jerusalem  delivree,  translated  by 
Lebrun  with  all  the  harmonious  majesty  of  the  Italian 
stanzas.  ...  In  this  way  Tasso,  read  by  my  father 
and  listened  to  by  my  mother  with  tears  in  her  eyes,  is 
the  first  poet  who  touched  the  fibres  of  my  imagina- 
tion and  of  my  heart."  x 

The  importance  of  this  declaration  made  by 
Lamartine  himself  calls  for  no  commentary;  his 
own  statement  as  to  the  effects  produced  by  the 
poet  of  Italy  upon  his  soul,  his  heart  and  his 
imagination,  is  sufficient  for  our  purpose.  Tasso 
always  remained  one  of  Lamartine's  most  favored 
poets;  many  years  later,  at  the  beginning  of 
old  age,  when  he  had  become  a  past  master  of 
language,  style  and  literary  criticism,  he  made 
the  singer  of  Clorinda  and  Erminia  the  object 
of  a  long  and  accurate  study,  following  in  the 
steps  of  Manso,  of  Serassi  and  of  Black;  and  in 
the  Cours  familier  de  litterature,  with  an  insight 
and  a  keenness  much  to  be  admired,  he  dedicated 

1  Les  Confidences  par  A.  de  Lamartine,  Bruxelles,  1849, 
p.  56. 


8  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

many  pages  to  the  life  of  Tasso,  and  to  the  study 
of  the  merits  and  defects  of  the  Gerusalemme 
Liberata.2 

We  see,  therefore,  that  Lamartine  was  brought 
up  in  an  intellectual  environment.  His  mother 
was  a  virtuous  and  pious  lady,  who,  nourished 
with  readings  of  a  serious  and  profound  character, 
had  been  able  to  free  herself  from  foolish  and 
old-fashioned  prejudices  while  remaining  an  earn- 
est believer  in  God  and  religion.  She  was  a 
reader  not  only  of  Bernardin  de  St.  Pierre,  but 
of  J.  J.  Rousseau  as  well  .  .  .  "ces  deux  philo- 
sophes  desfemmes  parce  qu'ils  sont  les  philosophes 
du  sentiment."  Being  the  daughter  of  Mme 
des  Roys,  under-governess  of  the  children  of  the 
Prince  d'Orleans,  she  had  been  reared  amid  a 
select  society,  composed  of  savants  and  men  of 
letters.  In  the  drawing-room  of  Mme  des  Roys, 
D'Alembert,  Laclos,  Mme  de  Genlis,  Buffon, 
Gibbon  and  Rousseau  himself  were  familiar 
figures.3  It  is  natural,  therefore,  that  the  meet- 
ing of  these  master-minds  should  have  had  a 
strong  influence  on  the  development  of  the  intel- 
lect of  young  Alice  des  Roys,  who  became  Mme 
de  Lamartine  when  not  yet  twenty  years  of  age. 
And  upon  the  feelings  and  imagination  of  our  poet 

2  Paris,  1863;   entretiens  xci,  xcn. 

3  Les  Confidences,  p.  33. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE  9 

profound  influence  was  exercised  not  only  by  his 
family  and  his  social  environment  but  by  the  very 
places  amid  which  his  first  steps  moved:  the 
wild  and  somewhat  barren  mountains  of  Bur- 
gundy, —  the  village  of  Milly,  so  solitary  and 
inhabited  only  by  peasants,  by  vine-dressers  and 
shepherds.  Lamartine  was  a  man  of  intuition, 
not  of  reflection;  and  even  in  his  childhood, 
imagination  and  feeling  were  predominant  in 
him.  The  strong  impression  made  upon  such  a 
nature  by  the  emotions  awakened  by  the  almost 
daily  reading  of  the  Gerusalemme  Liberata  left 
him  with  an  Italianized  soul,  and  the  country  of 
Tasso  had  always  for  him  the  fascination  of  a 
mistress  whose  voice  vibrated  within  him  and 
gave  inspiration  to  his  poetry.  As  Voltaire  has 
said:  "La  patrie  est  aux  lieux  ou  Fame  est 
enchainee !" 4 

4  Le  Fanatisme,  I,  2. 


CHAPTER  II 

COLLEGE  FRIENDS  OF  LAMARTINE  —  HIS  IMPRES- 
SIONS OF  ARIOSTO  AND  ALFIERI —  CORINNE 
OU   UITALIE 

Lamartine  received  his  education  in  the 
Jesuit  college  of  Belley.  While  there  he  be- 
came a  friend  of  several  Italian  young  men 
belonging  to  the  most  prominent  families  of 
Piedmont,  among  them  the  Sambuys,  the  Ghi- 
linis  and  the  Costas.1  Thus  he  early  received 
the  very  best  impressions  of  the  Italian  people 
and  nation,  and  his  reverence  for  the  country  of 
Tasso,  who  always  continued  to  delight  him, 
was  increased  rather  than  diminished  by  his 
college  associates.2  He  also  began  to  read  Ariosto 
in  the  original,  but  being  new  to  the  intricacies 
of  the  Italian  language  and  to  the  subtleties 
of  the  style,  he  could  not  enjoy  the  reading  to 

1  Cours  familier  de  litt.,  entretien  cxxiii,  p.  169. 

2  Professor  Lanson,  in  his  edition  of  the  Meditations, 
published  after  this  work  was  completed,  strikingly  states 
in  this  way  the  importance  of  such  associations:  .  .  .  "Pour 
presumer  Feffet  d'une  education  ce  n'est  pas  tant  du 
c6te  des  maitres  qu'il  faut  regarder;  c'est  surtout  du 
cote  des  camarades.  Voila  les  vrais  educateurs."  (Introd., 
p.  xi.) 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE         11 

any  extent.     On   June   10,   1809,  writing  from 
Macon  to  his  friend  de  Virieu,  he  says: 

L'Arioste  est  sur  ma  table.  II  y  a  longtemps,  et 
j'ai  honte  de  le  dire,  que  je  Tai  commence,  et  je  n'en 
suis  qu'au  milieu,  tant  l'interet  dans  un  poeme  et  un 
peu  de  suite  dans  ses  discours  est  une  belle  chose.  Ce 
n'est  pas  cependant  que  je  ne  le  trouve,  quelquefois, 
6gal  au  bon  homme,  mais  j'avoue  que  souvent  il  me 
fait  bailler,  au  lieu  de  me  faire  rire,  et  que  j'en  saute 
des  pages  entieres.  Est-ce  ma  faute?  Un  peu,  sans 
doute,  mais  c'est  aussi  un  peu  la  sienne.3 

Aymon  de  Virieu,  to  whom  this  letter  was 
addressed,  was  the  dearest  of  Lamartine's  col- 
lege friends,  and  he  often  called  him  in  his  letters 
"douce  moitie  de  mon  ame,"  translating  the 
affectionate  expression  of  Horace.  Even  to  a 
brother  Lamartine  would  not  have  written  more 
frequently  or  with  more  affection.  During  his 
travels,  during  the  most  trying  moments  of  his 
political  life,  de  Virieu  was  always  his  confidant, 
his  bosom  friend,  to  whom  he  felt  the  need  of 
opening  his  heart  in  joy  or  in  sorrow. 

During  this  period  Lamartine  became  an 
enthusiastic  admirer  of  Vittorio  Alfieri.  He  had 
read  several  articles  upon  him  in  the  Mercure, 
the  literary  journal  of  Macon,  and  his  enthusi- 
asm had  increased  after  the  reading  of  his  trage- 
dies translated  into  French.4  In  the  letter  already 
3  Corr.y  i,  81.  4  Corr.,  i,  83. 


12  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

quoted  from,  he  says  to  de  Virieu:  "I  should  like 
to  procure  all  his  (Alfieri's)  works  in  Italian,  and 
especially  his  Life.  Have  you  not  got  them?  I 
love  him  to  the  point  of  madness.  He  was  so 
fond  of  horses,  of  poetry,  of  literature,  of  his 
friends,  of  travels,  and  of  glory  ! ! !  There  is  not 
room  enough  for  all  the  points  of  admiration !" 

However  —  as  we  shall  subsequently  see  — 
this  enthusiasm  of  the  nineteen-year-old  Lamar- 
tine  for  the  Italian  tragedian  vanished  later  on 
and  gave  place  to  a  contempt  not  less  exagger- 
ated, and  entirely  unjustified:5  "Certes  c'est  un 
subject  merveilleusement  vain,  divers,  et  on- 
doyant,  que  Phomme!"  6 

It  was  about  this  time  that  he  read  Corinne  ou 
Vltalie  by  Mme  de  Stael.  This  volume  filled 
him  with  unbounded  admiration  both  for  the 
author  and  for  the  subject.  He  tells  us  in  his 
"Entretien  avec  le  lecteur"  at  the  opening  of 
the  Recuezllements  poetiques:  "J'etais,  depuis  ma 
tendre  enfance,  un  admirateur  exalte  du  genie 
et  du  caractere  de  Mme  de  Stael.  Corinne 
avait  6t6  mon  premier  roman,  c'est  le  roman 
des  poetes !" 

His  enthusiasm  was  so  great  that,  even  writing 
after  so  long  a  time,  he  seems  to  find  no  language 

5  Entr.  sur  Alfieri  in  Cours  familier  de  litt. 

6  Montaigne,  Ess.  i.  c.  1. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE         13 

strong  enough  to  express  it:  "J'etais  ivre  du 
nom  de  Mme  de  Stael  I"  But  we  cannot  doubt 
that  his  enthusiasm  was  chiefly  produced  by 
the  nature  of  the  subject,  for,  after  some  reading 
of  De  VAllemagne  by  the  same  author  he  wrote  to 
de  Virieu:  "Je  lis  a  Pinstant  Pouvrage  de  Mme 
de  Stael  sur  VAllemagne.  Je  commence  a  regretter 
mon  argent,  quoique  cela  me  paraisse  £crit  d'un 
style  assez  masculin,  mais  un  peu  trop  a  la 
Dacier!"7 

After  his  reading  of  Corinne  Italy  became 
more  than  ever  the  land  of  his  dreams.  Always 
hoping  and  strongly  desiring  to  be  able  to  visit 
the  land  of  Tasso,  he  continued  to  study  Italian 
very  diligently,  and  if  it  is  true  that  with  a 
new  language  one  acquires  a  new  soul,  Lamar- 
tine's  soul  must  have  become  Italian  indeed.  At 
Macon  he  accepted,  with  unfeigned  pleasure, 
the  invitation  of  some  ladies  to  take  part  in  an 
Italian  comedy,  while  the  reading  of  Alfieri's 
life  in  the  original  tongue  kept  alive  in  him  the 
enthusiasm  for  the  tragedian.8  He  declared 
to  de  Virieu  that  he  loved  Alfieri  almost  as  much 

7  Corr.,  ii,  107. 

8  We  must  notice,  however,  that  he  could  not  have 
had  a  real  speaking  acquaintance  with  Italian  at  this 
time.  In  fact,  writing  to  de  Virieu  soon  after  he  arrived 
in  Italy  he  says:  "  Je  commence  a  parler  italien  par  force  . . . 
les  'ciceroni'  ne  parlent  qu'italien !"     Corr.}  i,  85. 


14  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

as  he  loved  Rousseau !  What  a  strange  idea  to 
associate  two  writers  so  totally  and  absolutely 
unlike,  even  if  only  in  a  comparison.  But  this 
reveals  to  us  his  fondness  for  paradox  even  at 
this  early  date. 


CHAPTER  III 

EARLY  LOVE  AFFAIRS  —  LAMARTINE  SENT  TO 
ITALY  —  HIS  EARLY  IMPRESSION  OF  THE 
MANNERS  OF  THE  ITALIANS  —  THE  ITALIAN 
UNIVERSITIES 

Lamartine  had  now  sufficient  preparation  of 
mind  and  of  spirit  to  undertake  profitably  his 
first  journey  to  Italy,  in  1811.  This  gave  him 
the  occasion  both  to  reproduce  and  to  define  the 
world  of  thoughts,  of  sensations  and  of  fancies 
which  had  been  struggling  within  his  emotional 
and  dreamy  soul.  The  determining  motive 
which  led  his  family  to  send  him  to  Italy  was 
his  having  fallen  in  love  —  and  his  wishing  to 
marry  the  object  of  his  affections.  His  sentiment, 
however,  was  only  one  of  those  youthful  inclina- 
tions which  are  more  the  foreshadowing  than  the 
revelation  of  real  love.  Seche  is  quite  right  in 
saying, 

En  fait  de  passions,  je  parle  ici  de  celles  qui  sont 
mauvaises,  il  ne  connaissait  guere  jusqu'a  vingt  ans  que 
le  jeu.  .  .  .  Cependant,  comme  il  avait  des  cama- 
rades  qui  avaient  dejh  gotite*  a  Pamour,  Pidee  lui  vint 
un  jour  d'y  gouter  lui  aussi !  Et  le  voila  follement 
£pris  tout  a  coup  d'une  jeune  fille  de  Macon.1 

1  Lamartine,  p.  83. 


16  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

His  mother  wrote  in  January,  1810:  "His 
passions  begin  to  develop;  I  fear  that  his  youth 
and  his  life  may  be  very  stormy  —  he  is  agitated, 
melancholy;  he  does  not  know  what  he  wants."2 
The  object  of  his  thoughts  was  a  young  lady 
of  Macon,  Henriette  P.3  "J'aime  pour  la  vie," 
he  wrote  to  a  friend,  "  je  ne  m'appartiens  plus,  et 

je  n'ai  nulle  esperance  de  bonheur 

Je  vais  prendre  incessament  un  parti  violent 
pour  obtenir  sa  main  a  vingt-cinq  ans."  4  How 
always  like  himself  is  Lamartine !  all  impulses, 
all  fire  !  But  this  first  flower  of  sentiment  had 
a  short  life,  like  all  those  flowers  which  open 
their  petals  too  early  to  the  scorching  sun. 

About  this  love-affair,  which  has  importance 
for  us  on  account  of  its  having  led  to  the  journey 
to  Italy,  it  seems  necessary  to  notice  that  some 
critics,  like  De  Mazade,  Sainte-Beuve  and 
Pomayrols,  identify  Henriette  P.  with  "Lucy," 
a  young  lady  who  might  be  called  the  first  ro- 
mantic fancy  of  Lamartine,  but  not  his  first  love. 
In  fact  he  never  speaks  of  "Lucy"  in  any  of  his 
writings  (not  even  in  his  letters)  except  the 
Confidences. 

2  Le  Manuscrit  de  ma  mere,  p.  153. 

*  P.  de  Lacretelle  has  discovered  that  her  family's 
name  was  "Pommier."  (Les  Orig.  et  la  jeun.  de  Lam., 
p.  239). 

4  Corr.,  i,  163. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE         17 

Yet,  notwithstanding  his  natural  grief  at  be- 
ing separated  from  his  beloved,5  Lamartine  ac- 
cepted with  joy  the  proposition  to  depart  for 
Italy.  This  joy  he  expresses  in  a  single  phrase, 
"cette  l Saturnia  tellus'  si  d6sir£e,"  which  is  more 
eloquent  than  an  entire  page.  And  he  adds: 
"Puissent  les  grands  souvenirs  de  cette  superbe 
Italie  distraire  un  peu  mon  esprit  de  toutes  les 
peines  de '  mon  cceur.,,  6  "An  artificial  rose 
fallen  from  a  wreath  at  a  night-dance  and  hidden 
in  the  bottom  of  a  valise,  together  with  a  few 
verses,  like  a  talisman/'  —  this  is  all  that  was 
left  of  his  first  love  romance  soon  forgotten  for 
the  black  eyes  of  Graziella.7 

Whoever  reads  the  Confidences,  including  the 
episode  of  Graziella,  will  infer  that  Lamartine 
went  to  Italy  in  1808,  when,  therefore,  he  was 
eighteen  years  old,  having  been  born  in  1790. 
On  the  contrary,  he  started  for  Italy  in  June, 
1811,   as  clearly  appears  from  his  own  corres- 

6  That  his  grief  was  more  assumed  than  real  is  revealed 
by  a  quotation  from  a  letter  written  at  this  time  to  de 
Virieu:  "Que  de  larmes  vont  couler,  combien  j'aurais 
d'assauts  a  soutenir.  .  .  .  Mais  j'ai  du  coeur,  et  toutes  les 
Armides  de  ma  patrie  ne  retiendront  pas  un  preux  cheva- 
lier qui  va  courir  les  aventures  et  voir  tout  ce  qu'il  y  a 
eu,  et  tout  ce  qu'il  y  a  encore  de  beau  et  de  grand  dans 
le  monde."     Corr.,  i,  73. 

6  Corr.,  i,  79. 

7  Cows  familier  de  litt.}  entr.  n,  56. 


18  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

pondence.8  But  we  must  not  pay  too  much 
attention  to  such  inexactitudes.  Sainte-Beuve 
has  well  said  that  Lamartine  "n'est  pas  l'homme 
des  dates."9  And  Charles  de  Mazade  completes 
the  characterization: 

Vieux  ou  jeune,  en  politique  comme  en  poesie,  il 
brode,  il  improvise,  il  ajoute  presque  malgre*  lui  au 
texte  sacre  de  la  verite" ;  et  c'est  certainement  un  des 
hommes  qui,  sans  calcul  et  sans  avoir  conscience,  ont 
au  plus  haut  degre  la  faculte  de  rinexactitude.10 

We  shall  see  more  of  this  later  on.11 
In  June,  1811,  therefore,  Lamartine  started 
for  Italy  together  with  a  lady  cousin  of  his 
mother  and  her  husband.  Among  the  letters  of 
introduction  which  he  took  with  him  was  one 
for  the  Countess  of  Albany,  the  friend  of  Alfieri. 
It  had  been  given  him  by  M.  de  Santilly,  a 
friend  of  his  father's.  Lamartine  started  on  the 
journey  with  a  heart  full  of  hope  and  of  enthusi- 
asm and  with  a  mind  full  of  various  schemes: 
He  intends  to  keep  a  diary;  he  wishes  to  return 
with  his  note-book  full  of  good  things,  and  pur- 
poses making  a  long  sojourn  in  Florence,  where 

8  The  letter  above  quoted,  e.g.,  is  dated  Macon,  June 
10,  1811. 

9  Portraits  Contemporains,  Paris,  1888,  p.  290. 

10  Ch.  de  Mazade,  Lamartine:  Sa  vie  litt.  et  polit.,  Paris, 
Didier,  p.  107. 

11  Part  III  of  this  Essay,  chap.  vin. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE         19 

he  will  learn  to  speak  the  purest  Italian ;  and  so 
on.  His  first  letter  to  his  friend  de  Virieu  is 
dated  from  Bologna.  Starting  from  Macon 
he  made  a  rapid  excursion  through  Turin,  Milan, 
Parma,  Piacenza,  Modena  and  Bologna.  Turin 
charmed  him  on  account  of  the  regularity  and 
beauty  of  its  buildings.  "Je  ne  me  figurais  pas 
une  ville  aussi  belle  que  Turin,  rien  n'y  manque; 
Pceil  n'y  est  jamais  blesse,  toujours  etonn6  et 
flatty.  .  .  .  Milan  est  une  ville  dans  le  gout  fran- 
gais  !"  The  "Duomo,"  he  says,  is  worthy  eight 
days  of  admiration.  "II  faudrait  des  volumes 
pour  d^crire  les  chefs  d'ceuvre  qui  la  d6corent." 
At  Milan  he  heard  some  good  Italian  music 
"dans  Timmense  et  magnifique  theatre  de  la 
Scala."  On  the  Corso  Orientale  he  saw  every 
night  a  remarkable  display  of  from  five  to  six 
hundred  magnificent  equipages.  But  the  men 
and  the  women  who  occupied  them,  seemed  to 
him  to  be  too  earnest  and  reserved.  He  finds 
an  enormous  difference  between  the  French 
manners,  of  a  kindness  so  open-hearted  and 
demonstrative,  and  the  abrupt  and  reserved 
manners  of  the  Italians  of  that  time,  who  were 
suffering  under  foreign  oppressors.  Even  dur- 
ing his  long  stay  at  Naples  and  Florence,  when 
he  was  attache  to  the  French  Embassy,  he  com- 
plained  of  the   lack   of  sociability   and   of   the 


20  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

reserve  of  manners  of  the  Italians.12  But  a  longer 
acquaintance  with  them  changed  entirely  this 
hasty  impression,13  and  many  of  the  friends  whom 
he  most  loved  and  admired  and  with  whom  he 
kept  up  a  continuous  correspondence  even  when 
most  of  the  others  had  deserted  him,  were 
Italians.14 

It  is  also  interesting  to  notice  the  favorable 
opinion  that  Lamartine  formed  of  Italian  higher 
institutions  of  learning,  and  of  the  self-denying 
and  exalted  character  of  Italy's  savants.  On  the 
occasion  of  his  visit  to  the  famous  University  of 
Bologna,  he  writes: 

Les  cabinets  de  physique,  d'histoire  naturelle, 
d'antiques,  sont  tres  beaux.  Des  professeurs  c61ebres 
dans  tous  les  genres  y  donnent  des  lecons  gratis  a 
toute  ritalie;    et  lTnstitut  a,  en  tout,  douze  mille 

12  The  Italians  were  already  secretly  preparing  for 
the  great  Revolution  which  was  to  liberate  and  unify 
their  country,  and  so  were  naturally  suspicious  of  strangers 
till  they  were  fully  informed  as  to  their  character  and 
motives.  This,  doubtless,  produced  on  Lamartine's  emo- 
tional nature  this  early  impression,  which  he  afterwards 
modified  on  fuller  acquaintance.  His  political  ideas  in- 
deed made  him  suspicious  toward  the  liberal-minded 
Italian  patriots:  "Ici  ils  me  croyent  une  espece  d'in- 
trigant,  espion,  jesuite,"  he  wrote  from  Florence  as  late 
as  1827,  and  no  doubt  he  appeared  such  to  those  who 
hated  bitterly  the  Church  and  the  priests. 

13  Cf.  Memoir es  inedits,  Paris,  1888. 

14  Cf.  Ch.  vii. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE        21 

livres  de  rentes !    Voila  qui  fait  honneur  a  Bologne  et 
au  d6sint6ressement  de  ses  illustres  professeurs ! 

And  the  enthusiasm  of  our  poet  is  such  that, 
writing  to  de  Virieu  about  it,  he  exclaims:  "II 
faudra  que  nous  venions  faire  des  cours  ici  un 
de  ces  hivers!"  15  But,  alas!  when  de  Virieu 
finally  joined  him,  it  was  at  Naples,  where  the 
black  eyes  of  Graziella  caused  Lamartine  to  forget 
this,  like  many  other  good  purposes  which  were 
never  to  be  accomplished !  Indeed  we  may 
repeat  with  Boileau: 

Voila  Phomme  en  effet.    II  va  du  blanc  au  noir, 
II  condamne  au  matin  ses  sentiments  du  soir. 
Importun  a  tout  autre,  a  soi-meme  incommode, 
II  change  a  tous  moments  d'esprit  comme  de  mode : 
II  tourne  au  moindre  vent,  il  tombe  au  moindre  choc:1 
Aujourd'hui  dans  un  casque  et  demain  dans  un  froc!6 

16  Corr.,  i,  85. 
16  Sat.,  viii,  49. 


CHAPTER  IV 

LAMARTINE    AND    THE     COUNTESS     OF    ALBANY  — 
VISIT  TO  TASSO'S  SEPULCHRE 

Continuing  his  journey,  Lamartine  reached 
Florence  one  evening  at  sundown  and  entered 
the  capital  of  Tuscany  "ivre  de  sensations 
avant  d'etre  ivre  de  pens^es."  A  few  days  after- 
wards, while  visiting  Santa  Croce,  standing  be- 
fore the  monument  which  the  Countess  of  Albany 
had  erected  to  her  beloved  Alfieri,  he  remem- 
bered he  had  a  letter  of  introduction  to  her, 
which  the  splendors  of  the  city  had  caused  him 
to  forget,  and  forthwith  decided  to  pay  her  a 
visit.  The  Countess,  even  after  the  death  of 
Alfieri,  held  a  kind  of  court  in  Florence,  over 
which  she  presided  as  queen  in  her  palace  on  the 
banks  of  the  Arno.  She  received  with  great 
kindness  the  young  poet,  who  appeared  before 
her  full  of  timidity  and  uneasiness.  She  had 
him  visit  Alfieri's  room,  and  as  he  was  taking 
his  leave  she  invited  him  to  dinner.  When  we 
remember  the  unlimited  admiration  that  Lamar- 
tine felt  at  that  time  for  the  Italian  tragedian, 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE         23 

we  shall  not  wonder  at  the  profound  feeling 
which  kept  him  standing  motionless  on  the 
threshold  of  the  room  which  contained  souvenirs 
so  suggestive.  It  seemed  to  him  as  if  he  found 
himself  at  the  entrance  of  a  temple !  If  he  had 
been  alone  he  would  have  knelt  on  the  floor 
which  had  been  trodden  by  the  feet  of  the 
great  man.  But  he  had  to  content  himself  with 
furtively  plucking  a  part  of  the  quill  which 
had  perhaps  been  used  for  the  writing  of  Mirra 
and  of  Saul.  This  relic  he  always  preserved, 
together  with  a  leaf  from  the  laurel-tree  which 
overshadows  the  tomb  of  Virgil,  and  with  a  frag- 
ment of  brick  from  the  prison  of  Tasso,  which 
he  caused  to  be  set  in  a  ring.1  Such  fetichism 
causes  us  to  smile,  especially  when  we  remember 
that  later  on  he  bitterly  criticized  the  tragedian 
of  Asti.  At  this  time,  from  Florence,  our  poet 
was  making  frequent  visits  to  Leghorn  —  which 
he  calls  "un  magnifique  port  de  mer"  —  and 
also  to  Pisa  and  Lucca.  He  then  wrote  to  some 
of  his  friends  that  he  was  becoming  ever  more 
adept  in  the  use  of  the  Tuscan  tongue,  "vrai- 
ment  celeste."  The  influence  of  Italy  and  of 
her  poets  over  him  was  such  as  to  cause  him  to 
write  to  his  friend  Bienassis  to  forgive  him  if 
his  French  had  no  common  sense  .  .  .,  "je 
1  Cours  familier  de  litt.,  entr.  vn,  81. 


24  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

Toublie  entierement,  et  je  n'honore  plus  que  des 
poetes  italiens."  2 

In  the  Confidences  Lamartine  relates  a  strange 
adventure  which  must  belong  to  this  period,  if 
real.  It  began  in  a  stage  coach,  and  had  its 
epilogue  in  Rome;  but  since  in  the  Correspondance 
there  is  no  trace  of  it,  one  may  well  suspect  that 
it  was  a  product  of  the  poet's  fervid  fancy. 
Lamartine  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  a 
young  man,  apparently  of  his  own  age,  who  was 
accompanying  M.  Davide,  the  famous  tenor 
who  was  making  his  voice  heard  throughout 
Europe's  principal  theatres.  When  the  com- 
pany reached  Rome,  Lamartine  discovered  that 
his  new  friend  was  not  a  man,  but  a  woman  in 
love  with  Davide.  In  order  to  avoid  trouble  she 
was  travelling  in  men's  clothes.  The  two  visited 
Rome  together;  but  there  was  no  danger  of  the 
friendship  becoming  love.  Lamartine  writes  in 
his  Confidences:  "Camille  plus  agee  que  moi  de 
quelques  annees  ne  me  t£moignait  pas  d'autres 
sentiments  que  ceux  d'une  veritable  amitie  un 
peu  tendre."  3  Sainte-Beuve,  however,  seems  to 
doubt  the  purity  of  this  friendship  when  he  says 
that  "La  Camilla  fait  transition  entre  Lucy  et 
Graziella."  4 

2  Corr.}  I,  178.  3  Confidences,  p.  138. 

4  Causeries  du  lundi,  I,  28. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE        25 

In  the  Confidences  Lamartine  tells  us  also  that 
he  spent  the  winter  in  Rome,  and  that  he  arrived 
at  Naples  on  April  1 ;  but  in  reality,  in  the  latter 
part  of  November,  1811,  he  was  already  at 
Naples.  There  he  was  so  short  of  money  that 
he  was  compelled  to  live  on  credit.5  But  while 
he  was  still  in  Rome,  on  November  18,  he  wrote 
to  de  Virieu  a  letter  which  is  in  total  contra- 
diction with  what  he  tells  us  in  the  Confidences 
about  his  running  up  and  down,  and  visiting 
the  Roman  monuments  with  Camille:  "Je 
mene  la  vie  d'un  ermite;  j'erre  le  matin  dans 
les  vastes  solitudes  tout  seul."  6  Rome  held  him 
completely  enchained  to  herself  by  an  irresistible 
fascination.  The  Roman  artists,  always  kind- 
hearted  and  generous,  made  him  change  his  first 
impression  of  the  manners  of  the  Italians:  "lis 
sont  tous  de  Phonn6tet6  et  de  la  complaisance 
la  plus  aimable !"  7  He  felt  melancholy  at  this 
time,  and  he  wrote  saying  that  the  aspect  of  the 
city,  its  monuments,  its  silence  and  its  peaceful- 
ness  were  doing  his  soul  good,  as  they  had  done 
in  the  case  of  Byron.  Like  Mme  de  Stael  he 
judged  that  city  to  be  the  place  most  adapted  to 
sadness,  to  dreams,  to  hopeless  sorrow !  During 
this  time  Lamartine  visited  Tasso's  sepulchre, 
and,  like  Leopardi,  he  wept  over  it.    How  many 

5  Corr.,  i,  183.  6  Corr.,  i,  185.  7  Corr.,  i,  85. 


26  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

sweet  memories  were  awakened  in  him  at  the 
sight  of  that  little  square  stone:  Milly,  his 
childhood,  his  father's  reading  the  Gerusalemme 
Liberata  —  all  this  appeared  before  his  mind's 
eye,  and,  to  render  the  vision  more  perfect,  there 
was  the  autumn  rain  striking  against  the  win- 
dows and  the  wind  whistling  amidst  the  branches 
of  the  trees.  His  soul  felt  that  Rome  was  its 
real  spiritual  home,  the  place  where  kindred 
spirits  are  haunting  every  recess  at  every  foot- 
step, Byron's  "city  of  the  soul !"  8  It  was  also 
an  impression  gained  during  this  first  sojourn9 
in  Rome  which  suggested  to  him  the  beautiful 
simile  contained  in  the  Meditation  entitled  La 
Foi: 

. . .  Tel  qu'au  pied  des  collines 

Ou  Rome  sort  du  sein  de  ses  propres  ruines 

L'ceil  voit  dans  ce  chaos,  confusement  epars, 

D'antiques  monuments,  de  modernes  remparts, 

Des  theatres  croulants,  dont  les  frontons  superbes 

Dorment  sous  la  poussiere,  ou  rampent  sous  les  herbes, 

Telle  est  notre  ame,  apres  ces  longs  6branlements 
Secouant  la  raison,  jusqu'en  ses  fondements, 

8  Childe  Harold's  Pilgrimage,  Canto  iv. 

9  It  seems  that  since  this  visit  to  Tasso's  sepulchre  the 
Italian  " Leonora' '  took,  in  his  poetry  and  in  his  imagina- 
tion, the  place  before  occupied  by  the  French  "El&> 
nore"  of  Parny.  Cf.  P.-M.  Masson,  Les  deux  Eleonore, 
Revue  d'Histoire  litt.,  avril-juin  1913. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE        27 

Le  malheur  n'en  fait  plus  qu'une  immense  ruine 
Ou,  comme  un  grand  debris,  le  desespoir  domine. 

M.  Rene  Doumic  has  discovered  the  prose  de- 
velopment of  these  stanzas,  written  on  a  page  of 
one  of  Lamartine's  carnets  preserved  at  Saint 
Point.10  And  G.  Lanson  remarks:  "II  est  pro- 
bable que  Pimagination  juvenile  de  Lamartine 
etait  guid£e  dans  la  visite  de  Rome  par  Corinne 
ou  le  motif  descriptif  est  indique."  u 

10  Carnet  de  Voyage  en  Italie  by  R.  Doumic  in  Le  Cor- 
respondant,  July  25,  1908. 

11  Lamartine's  Meditations,  vol.  I,  p.  170,  notice. 


CHAPTER  V 

LAMARTINE    AT    NAPLES  —  GRAZIELLA  —  ITALIAN 
ORIGIN    OF  LE   CRUCIFIX 

Naples,  the  fascinating  Parthenope,  charmed 
our  poet.  Whoever  has  read  the  episode  of 
Graziella  must  remember  those  splendid  descrip- 
tions which  are  like  a  hymn,  though  the  form  is 
prose.  Even  in  the  letters  which  Lamartine 
writes  to  his  friends,  his  enthusiasm  is  poured 
out  in  pages  full  of  passionate  lyrics.  There  are 
some  persons  upon  whom  a  combination  of  many 
beauties,  whether  they  be  natural  or  the  product 
of  art,  produces  the  effect  as  of  a  weight  laid 
upon  them.  This  is  exactly  what  happened  to 
Lamartine.  At  Naples  he  felt  oppressed  by 
vague  fits  of  melancholy,  which  led  him  to 
write  to  Bienassis:  "Suivons  le  gros  du  trou- 
peau,  qui  mange  et  qui  dort  et  vit  au  jour  la 
journ£e,  sans  s'inqui^ter  d'amour,  ni  d'avenir,  ni 
de  gloire.  Ces  noms-l&  nous  font  battre  le  cceur: 
tant  pis !  Heureux  celui  qui  ni  les  entend,  ni 
les  comprend."  l  It  is  interesting  to  notice  that 
in  Naples  the  religious  sentiment  became  much 
1  Corr.t  i,  190. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE        29 

stronger  in  him.  It  was  not,  however,  a  pro-, 
found  feeling,  but  rather  that  vague  and  indefi- 
nite sentiment  which  abounds  in  his  poems  and 
for  which  he  has  been  reproached  by  many  as 
having  something  pantheistic  rather  than  Chris- 
tian. 

Meanwhile  he  was  adapting  himself  to  the 
environment.  In  that  atmosphere,  inviting  to 
idleness,  he  became  indolent  and  confesses  that 
he  was  doing  nothing,  that  he  was  forgetting  the 
pure  Italian  and  learning  rather  the  Neapolitan 
dialect,  and  finally  that  he  had  become  a  real 
"lazzarone."  He  even  became  addicted  to  gam- 
bling and  to  making  debts.2 

Fortunately  Aymon  de  Virieu,  after  having 
been  awaited  impatiently  by  Lamartine,  arrived 
at  Naples.  Once  together,  the  two  youths  thought 
of  nothing  but  amusing  themselves  and  having  a 
"good  time."  Our  poet  had  said  before  that  he 
felt  inconsolable  at  the  sad  ending  of  his  M&con 
love-romance;  but  poor  Henriette  was  very  soon 
forgotten  now  I    This  is  how  it  happened : 

In  the  tobacco-factory  directed  by  one  of  his 
relatives,  M.  Darest  de  Chavanne,  at  whose 
house  Lamartine  was  stopping,  there  was  em- 
ployed a  young  woman  of  splendid  beauty.  Her 
eyes  were  so  black  and  sparkling  that  the  heart 
2  Corr.,  i,  194. 


30  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

of  our  Alphonse  was  set  aflame  by  them.  Under 
the  fire  of  this  new  love  the  image  of  Henriette 
melted  like  wax  and  vanished,  and  the  Nea- 
politan Graziella  was  enthroned  in  her  stead. 
"Jusqu'a  sa  rencontre  avec  Graziella,  on  peut 
dire  qu'il  n'avait  pas  aim£,"  says  S6ch6.3 

Graziella,  the  poetical  and  touching  story 
narrated  in  the  Confidences,  was  written  in  1843. 
This  is  stated  in  the  somewhat  long  dedication  to 
his  friend  Guichard  de  Bienassis,  in  which  the 
poet  undertakes  to  justify  the  publication  of  his 
familiar,  personal  and  intimate  reminiscences. 
From  1811,  the  year  in  which  he  fell  in  love  with 
Graziella,  to  1843,  there  is  an  interval  of  not 
less  than  thirty-two  years.  During  this  interval, 
which  was  very  stormy,  Lamartine  experienced 
the  strongest  and  most  intense  passion  of  his 
whole  life:  the  love  for  the  wife  of  the  scientist 
Charles,  Julie,  whom  he  calls  "Elvire"  in  his 
verses.     When,  therefore,  he  wrote  the  history 

3  Lamartine,  p.  83,  note.  —  We  have  already  noticed 
that  his  love  for  Henriette  was  more  assumed  than  real, 
and  Lamartine  had  easily  prophesied  a  happier  ending  to 
it  than  death,  when,  writing  to  de  Virieu  before  his  jour- 
ney to  Italy  he  says:  "Peut-etre  a  ton  premier  voyage 
viendras-tu  chercher  le  tombeau  de  ton  ami  a  Rome  ou  a 
Naples  . .  .  Peut-etre,  mais  il  y  en  a  de  plus  consolants, 
etc."  And  the  consolation  was  quite  full  and  complete, 
as  we  see. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE        31 

of  his  love  for  Graziella,  he  was  looking  back  to 
his  past  and  to  the  memories  of  his  sojourn  at 
Naples,  which  appeared  to  him,  as  a  whole,  sur- 
rounded with  light  and  poetry.  In  such  a  case 
details  are  no  longer  distinguishable,  or  if  it  is 
possible  to  discern  them,  they  appear  in  a  pecu- 
liar light  which  gives  them  a  new  aspect. 

The  story  of  Graziella  fills  a  full  half  of  the 
Confidences.  It  may  be  called  a  romance  wherein 
the  only  real  things  are  the  persons  and  the 
places.  But  the  sentiment  which  binds  together 
the  hero  and  the  heroine  is  misrepresented  and 
falsified,  while  the  very  circumstances  about 
which  it  revolves  are  imaginary.  Charles  de 
Mazade,  writing  upon  the  love  of  Lamartine 
for  Graziella,  says  that  it  was  "une  Amotion  de 
jeunesse  raviv£e  plus  tard,  id£alis£e  et  trans- 
formee  en  poeme!" 4     And  Sainte-Beuve  says: 

La  charmante  corailleuse  de  Naples  est  en  partie 
une  creation,  une  de  ces  aventures  qui  ne  laissent  que 
trop  peu  de  traces  dans  la  vie,  et  qui  ne  se  retrouvent 
que  plus  tard,  dans  les  lointains  de  la  pens£e,  quand  le 
poete  ou  le  peintre  sent  le  besoin  d'y  chercher  des 
sujets  d'616gie  ou  de  tableau.5 

We    know,  however,   that   "la   corailleuse,"   as 
Sainte-Beuve  calls  her,  had  in  reality  a  much 

4  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  Aug.  10,  1870,  p.  570. 

5  Causeries  du  lundi,  i,  6. 


32  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

more  prosaic  calling,  for  she  was  in  fact  a  cigar- 
maker. 

The  truth  about  Graziella,  reconstructed  ac- 
cording to  the  most  recent  and  very  careful 
researches  on  the  early  life  of  Lamartine,  is  as 
follows:  Young  Alphonse  had  been  recommended 
to  one  of  his  relatives,  M.  Darest  de  la  Cha- 
vanne,  who  was  then  director  of  the  tobacco- 
manufactory  at  Naples.  De  Chavanne,  having 
learned  that  Lamartine  had  arrived  and  was 
stopping  at  a  hotel,  went  to  see  him  and  offered 
him  the  hospitality  of  his  own  home,  which  was 
accepted.  The  house  was  situated  at  S.  Pietro 
in  Martire,  near  the  Molo.  M.  Darest  em- 
ployed in  his  tobacco-factory  many  women  of 
the  suburbs  of  Naples  and  the  neighboring 
islands.  Among  them  were  several  fishermen's 
daughters.  Young  Lamartine,  indolent  and  un- 
occupied as  he  was,  spent  much  of  his  time  in  the 
society  of  these  girls,  especially  in  the  evenings 
when  they  quit  work.  The  girl  whom  he  after- 
wards made  so  famous  under  the  name  of  Gra- 
ziella, was  the  daughter  of  a  fisherman  of  Procida. 
She  listened  to  the  passionate  words  of  the  young 
stranger,  she  loved  him,  indeed  she  adored  him 
with  all  the  fire  and  passion  of  the  daughters  of 
the  South,  and  she  gave  herself  to  him.  "II 
cueillit  cette  fleur  du  Midi  et  en  respira  le  parfum 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE        33 

qui,  pour  un  temps,  enivra  ses  sens."6  The  sen- 
timents of  Lamartine  at  this  time  are  well 
expressed  by  Saint-Marc  Girardin:  "Le  heros 
complaisamment  enferme  dans  la  beatitude  du 
moi,  se  laisse  aimer  par  la  belle  Procitane,  rece- 
vant  tout,  et  ne  donnant  rien."  7 

That  this  love  was  not  merely  idyllic,  as  it 
appears  in  the  Confidences,  may  also  be  in- 
ferred from  the  reticence  which  Lamartine  uses 
in  his  correspondence.  He  never  speaks  of 
Graziella;  but  in  a  letter  —  one  letter  only  —  to 
de  Virieu,  dated  November,  1813,  there  is  an  al- 
lusion easy  to  be  understood:  "Depuis  Naples,  je 
n'ai  pas  ouvert  mon  coeur  une  seule  fois."  Such 
reticence  is  quite  natural,  since  the  poet  could 
not  have  had  a  conscience  entirely  easy  in  this 
regard.  We  have  a  stronger  proof  in  a  letter  of 
his,  which  Deschanel  states  to  be  a  part  of  the 
collection  of  autographs  belonging  to  M.  Cha- 
varay.8  In  this  letter,  addressed  to  a  friend,  we 
read  the  following  words: 

J'ai  eu  la  sottise  de  me  laisser  aller  avec  une  petite 
fille  qui  est  belle  comme  un  ange  et  bete  comme  une 
oie.  Je  ne  sais  comment  m'en  depetrer.  II  faudrait 
lui  trouver  une  petite  place;  case-la  moi  done  quelque 
part,  car  je  ne  sais  plus  qu'en  faire. 

6  Reyssie,  La  Jeunesse  de  Lamartine,  p.  152. 

7  Saint-Marc  Girardin,  Cours  de  litt.  dramatique,  iv,  106. 

8  Deschanel,  Lamartine,  Paris,  C.  Levy,  1893. 


34  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

And  besides,  whoever  remembers  the  poem 
entitled  Le  Passe  contained  in  the  Nouvelles 
Meditations  can  well  understand  that  this  was 
"une  partie  carr£e"  (if  we  may  so  call  it),  formed 
by  Lamartine  and  Graziella  on  the  one  hand, 
and  by  de  Virieu  and  a  second  girl,  from  Poz- 
zuoli  or  Chiaia,  on  the  other.  This  is  the  quota- 
tion that  proves  the  point: 

Combien  de  fois  pres  du  rivage 
Ou  Nisida  dort  sur  les  mers 
La  beauts  crSdule  ou  volage 
Accourut  a  nos  doux  concerts ! 
Combien  de  fois  la  barque  errante 
Berga  sur  Tonde  transparente 
Deux  couples  par  Tamour  conduits, 
Tandis  qu'une  dSesse  amie 
Jetait  sur  la  vague  endormie 
Le  voile  parfum6  des  nuits  ! 

The  souvenir  of  Graziella  only  furnished  the 
occasion  to  write  a  touching  romance,  poetical 
and  passionate,  and  furnished  Lamartine  with 
a  motif  for  the  display  of  all  the  most  bril- 
liant colors  of  his  palette.  No  wonder  that, 
in  Lamartine's  fertile  imagination,  the  humble 
and  discreditable  love-story  should  have  become 
transformed  into  a  chaste  idyl  of  the  utmost 
purity,  wherein  the  passion  of  the  ardent  Nea- 
politan girl  is  transformed  by  a  breath  of  ideal- 
ism. His  fancy  indeed  was  capable  of  much  more 
than  that ! 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE        35 

The  story  of  Graziella,  as  we  have  seen  already, 
was  written  in  1843,  and  this  fact  caused  some- 
one to  say  that  "il  couronnait  sa  politique  par 
des  idylles."  At  any  rate  that  adventure,  so  sim- 
ple, so  commonplace,  but  dramatic  on  account 
of  its  ending,  assumed,  as  time  went  by,  the 
form  of  an  idyl  in  Lamartine's  own  mind.  The 
remembrance  of  the  ardent  young  creature,  of 
her  passion,  spontaneous  and  so  disinterested, 
and  of  her  untimely  death,  could  never  be  obliter- 
ated from  the  poet's  memory.  Perhaps  there 
may  have  been  some  part  of  an  artist's  egotism 
in  his  frequently  drawing  inspiration  from  the 
poetical  memories  connected  with  Graziella;  but 
doubtless  a  true  and  profound  feeling  of  pity, 
joined  with  remorse,  had  its  share  in  it.  Surely, 
without  true  emotion,  words  such  as  these  could 
not  have  been  thought  of  or  written: 

Pauvre  Graziella !  .  .  .  Je  ne  sais  pas  ou  dort  ta 
d^pouille  mortelle,  ni  si  quelqu'un  te  pleure  encore 
dans  ton  pays;  mais  ton  veritable  s^pulcre  est  dans 
mon  &me.  C'est  la  que  tu  es  recueillie  et  ensevelie 
toute  entiere.  Ton  nom  ne  me  frappe  jamais  en  vain. 
J'aime  la  langue  ou  il  est  prononce.  II  y  a  toujours  au 
fond  de  mon  cceur  une  larme  qui  filtre  goutte  k  goutte 
et  qui  tombe  en  secret  sur  ta  memoire  pour  la  rafralchir 
et  pour  Pembaumer  en  moi.9 

9  Confidences,  p.  264. 


36  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

This  he  wrote  in  1829. 

Charles  Alexandre,  the  private  secretary  of 
Lamartine,  affirms  that  the  poet  "avait  calomni6 
a  dessein  l'amoureux,  dans  son  g6n6reux  souvenir, 
pour  donner  tout  Pint6ret  a  la  jeune  fille";  that 
"il  Taima  plus  qu'il  ne  Pa  dit";  that  "des  ac- 
cents sinceres  6chapp6s  a  P6motion  trahissent  la 
v<§rit6."  10 

Personally  we  are  inclined  to  believe  that 
Lamartine  loved  Graziella  only  after  her  death, 
that  is,  after  the  remembrance  of  her  was 
entirely  idealized  by  the  artist's  imagination. 
Then  his  heart  also  was  touched,  but  only  after 
the  poet  had  become  aware  that  the  incidents  of 
his  Neapolitan  love,  the  beauty  and  sincerity  of 
Graziella,  and  her  most  pitiful  end,  constituted 
one  of  the  purest  and  richest  sources  of  poetical 
inspiration  which  he  had  to  draw  upon.  There- 
fore, in  our  judgment,  there  is  in  this  process  a 
good  deal  of  so-called  "self-suggestion";  but 
this  does  not  prevent  the  sentiment  itself  from 
being  genuine,  whether  it  be  spontaneous  or 
reflex. 

We  must  notice  that  the  third  of  the  Medita- 
tions, which  is  dedicated  to  "Elvire,"  was  sug- 
gested to  the  poet  by  the  memory  of  Graziella, 
as  he  tells  us  in  his  own  commentary  on  it.  The 
10  Souvenirs  sur  Lamartine,  p.  169. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE         37 

poem  entitled  Le  Golfe  de  Baiaw&s  written  in  1813, 
precisely  at  the  time  when  the  delight  of  love 
and  the  fascination  of  nature  had  full  sway- 
over  him.  There,  in  the  Gulf  of  Naples,  before 
the  divine  beauty  of  those  scenes,  he  felt  himself 
inspired,  and  he  recorded  in  writing  his  inspira- 
tions while  his  friend  de  Virieu  was  drawing 
sketches  for  his  " album."  Likewise  Le  Passe,  a 
Meditation  inscribed  to  Aymon  de  Virieu,  is 
closely  connected  with  the  memories  of  Gra- 
ziella,  and  of  the  happy  days  they  passed  in 
Naples  during  1811  and  1812.  Indeed  it  is  quite 
possible  that  UHymne  au  soleil,  written  in  1812, 
may  have  been  inspired  by  the  memories  of 
Graziella,  and  G.  Lanson  penetratingly  remarks: 
".  .  .  Je  ne  serais  pas  etonne*  que,  dans  son  esprit, 
Lamartine  ait  rattache*  le  poeme  au  souvenir  de 
Graziella."  » 

11  The  tendencies  of  recent  criticism  are  to  recognize 
that  Graziella's  influence  on  Lamartine  is  much  greater 
than  it  was  heretofore  supposed.  Thus  Des  Cognets 
does  not  hesitate  to  declare  that  le  Temple,  generally  as- 
cribed to  Mme  Charles'  influence,  must  be  ascribed  to 
Graziella's,  and  gives  various  good  reasons  for  it.  He 
also  declares  that  "Toute  la  fin  de  'Novissima  Verba'  est 
consacrSe  a  Graziella"  and  concludes  that  "si  Ton  resti- 
tue  le  Temple  a  Graziella  ...  on  conviendra  qu'il  reste 
bien  peu  de  chose  en  propre  a  la  pauvre  heroine  de  Ra- 
phael." (La  Vie  interieure  de  Lamartine,  p.  76,  note; 
p.  610;  p.  160.) 


38  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

After  his  return  to  France  from  his  first 
Italian  journey,  the  poet  gave  himself  up  com- 
pletely to  a  life  of  gambling  and  of  dissipation. 
But  one  day  in  Paris,  as  he  was  walking  solitary 
and  dejected  in  the  Luxembourg  gardens,  all  at 
once  there  arose  in  his  mind  the  vision  of  the  Gulf 
of  Naples,  and  of  the  cottage  of  Graziella  emerging 
like  a  water-lily  from  the  waves,  on  the  island 
of  Procida.  He  was  not  then  aware  that  the  un- 
fortunate girl  had  died,  but  in  the  loneliness  of 
that  garden,  keenly  realizing  the  contrast  be- 
tween his  actual  existence  (given  over  as  it  was 
to  unworthy  pleasures),  and  the  hours  so  full  of 
poetical  inspiration,  of  sweet  emotion  and  love, 
which  he  had  passed  at  Naples,  the  poet  felt 
oppressed  by  a  great  sadness,  in  which  the  bitter- 
ness of  regret  and  the  fear  of  the  unknown  were 
commingled,  and  he  was  suddenly  overcome  by 
a  presentiment  of  the  death  of  Graziella.  For- 
getting everything  else,  he  laid  his  elbows  on  the 
low  wall  at  his  side,  and  dreamt  of  the  past. 
When  he  lifted  his  head,  the  stone  was  wet  with 
tears,  and  a  few  moments  later,  shutting  him- 
self up  in  his  room,  he  wrote  Tristesse,  one  of  the 
Meditations  in  which  Graziella  is  evoked  with  a 
touching  emotion : 

Partons !  Je  veux  revoir  encore 

Le  VSsuve  enflamme  sortant  du  sein  des  eaux; 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE         39 

Je  veux  de  ses  hauteurs  voir  se  lever  Tarn-ore, 
Je  veux,  guidant  le  pas  de  celle  que  j 'adore, 
Redescendre  en  revant  de  ces  riants  coteaux,  etc. 

And  then  he  expresses  his  longing  and  his  love 
for  Italy  in  this  fashion: 

Je  ne  demande  aux  Dieux  que  de  guider  mes  pas 
Jusqu'aux  bords  qu'embellit  ta  mSmoire  cherie, 
De  saluer  de  loin  ces  fortunes  climats 
Et  de  mourir  aux  lieux  ou  j'ai  goute*  la  vie  ! 

He  also  addressed  another  salutation  in  verse 
to  Graziella,  U Adieu  a  Graziella,  a  very  tender 
composition,  written  in  1813.  Her  memory  fol- 
lows him  constantly;  her  image  never  leaves 
him,  but  rather  becomes  more  vivid  in  his  mind 
and  heart.  From  1813  to  his  old  age  he  continued 
to  weave  for  her  a  wreath  of  the  purest  flowers, 
which  will  never  fade.  In  1829,  having  lost  his 
mother,  who  died  a  terrible  death,12  he  finds 
himself  alone  at  Monculot,  full  of  sadness  amid 
the  solitude  of  the  forests,  recalling  the  past. 
But  suddenly  a  ray  of  sunlight  falls  upon  him, 
a  vision  passes  before  his  eyes: 

Un  jour,  c^tait  au  bord  ou  les  mers  du  Midi 
Arrosent  Talons  de  leur  flot  atti£di. 


C'etait  aux  premiers  jours  de  mon  pr^coce  £te, 
Et  je  ne  connaissais  de  ce  monde  enchants, 

w  She  was  scalded  to  death  while  taking  a  hot  bath  in 
her  own  house. 


40  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

Que  le  cceur  d'une  mere,  et  l'oeil  d'une  beaute 
Et  j'aimais  .  .  . 

Et  nous  6tions  en  paix  avec  cette  nature, 

Et  nous  aimions  ces  pr£s,  ce  ciel,  ce  doux  murmure, 

Ces  arches,  ces  rochers,  ces  astres,  cette  mer 

Et  toute  notre  vie  6tait  un  seul  aimer.13 

Shortly  afterwards,  in  Paris,  he  dictated  that 
most  beautiful  and  celebrated  elegy,  Le  'premier 
regret: 

Sur  la  plage  sonore  ou  la  mer  de  Sorrente,  etc. 

and  in  his  comment  he  tells  us  how  it  came  to 
his  memory: 

It  was  a  spring  day  in  1830,  and  his  wife  had 
asked  him  to  accompany  her  to  the  vesper  serv- 
ices in  the  Church  of  San  Rocco.  While  the 
religious  songs  were  echoing,  he  was  leaning 
against  a  pillar  from  which  was  hanging  a  paint- 
ing representing  the  exhumation  of  a  virgin  in 
the  place  of  whom  only  white  lilies  were  found. 
All  of  a  sudden  that  scene  made  him  think  of 
Graziella:  "Je  n'entendis  plus  rien,  et  ces  vers 
roulerent  dans  ma  pens6e  avec  quelques  larmes 
dans  mes  yeux.  Je  rentrai  et  je  m'assis  pour 
ecrire  ces  strophes.  •  • . v 

In  1857,  when  a  burden  of  sorrows  was  op- 
pressing the  old  man,  whose  life  had  been  a  long 

13  Harmonies,  iv. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE        41 

succession  of  victories  and  defeats,  Graziella 
again  appeared  to  him,  and  inspired  La  Fille  du 
pecheur,  a  poem  full  of  graceful  biblical  images. 
We  may  well  repeat  with  Reyssi6: 

Si  rhomme  a  eu  des  torts,  si  Ton  peut  lui  reprocher 
sa  froideur  et  son  egoisme  (n'avait-il  pas  vingt  ans?) 
le  poete  a  rachet6  sa  faute,  et  la  pauvre  Graziella  doit 
pardonner  a  Famant  qui  lui  a  donne  PimmortaliteV4 

And  not  only  in  his  rhymes  is  the  figure  of  Gra- 
ziella present  to  the  poet's  eye.  In  his  romances, 
Genevieve,  Le  Tailleur  de  pierres  de  Saint-Point, 
Fior  d'Aliza,  Antoniella,  where  men  and  women 
of  the  common  people  reveal  noble  and  pure 
characters,  it  is  probable  (as  Charles  de  Pomay- 
rols  affirms) 15  that  Lamartine  has  merely  trans- 
formed into  devotion  and  virtue  the  fascination 
Graziella  exerted  on  him.  Deschanel  goes  still 
further,  and  says  that  in  1814  Lamartine  traced 
the  first  outline  of  one  of  the  most  perfect  lyrics 
that  have  ever  been  written,  Le  Lac,  while  recall- 
ing the  momentary  happiness  he  had  at  Naples 
in  1812  by  the  side  of  Graziella.16 

Indeed  it  may  be  affirmed  that  even  in  the 
famous  Le  Crucifix  there  are  found  reminiscences 
of  Graziella,  as  for  instance  in  the  stanza: 

14  La  Jeunesse  de  Lamartine,  p.  175. 

15  Lamartine,  p.  18. 

16  Lamartine,  i,  106. 


42  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

Le  vent  qui  caressait  sa  tete  6chevel6e 
Me  montrait  tour  a  tour  ou  me  voilait  ses  traits, 
Comme  Ton  voit  flotter  sur  un  blanc  mausol6e 
L'ombre  des  noirs  cypres. 

This  was  not  true  of  "Julie,"  who  died  in  the 
manner  everybody  knows,  when  Lamartine  was 
far  away  from  her,  but  our  poet  could  never 
dissociate  the  image  of  Graziella  from  his  thoughts 
when  his  heart  was  deeply  moved  by  love  or 
sorrow,  so  that  he  attributes  to  Julie  what  really 
belongs  to  Graziella. 

These  reminiscences  are,  to  our  mind,  the  only 
contribution  of  Italian  origin  to  Le  Crucifix. 
Whatever  has  been  written  in  recent  years  about 
this  Meditation  being  inspired  by  an  Italian  poet, 
is  not  based  upon  any  trustworthy  proof.17  As 
to  the  Italian  form  of  the  title,  II  Crocifisso, 
which  Lamartine  gave,  nobody  knows  why,  to  the 
canvas  of  Le  Crucifix,  it  may  easily  be  explained 
from  the  fact  that  from  the  time  of  his  journey 
to  Italy  our  poet  had  formed  the  habit  of  min- 
gling Italian  expressions  in  all  his  prose  writings, 
as  we  notice  further  on.18 

17  Cf.  P.  Martino  in  Revue  Universitaire,  March  15, 
1905. 

18  The  original  manuscript  examined  by  J.  des  Cognets 
(Bibl.  de  la  Faculte  de  Lettr.,  Univ.  de  Paris,  vol.  xxi,  1906) 
has  the  title  II  Crucifisso  instead  of  II  Crocifisso  as  it  would 
undoubtedly  have  been  if  Lamartine  had  had  an  Italian 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE        43 

But  from  all  the  preceding  facts  and  considera- 
tions it  is  evident  that,  even  during  this  earlier 
part  of  Lamartine's  life  and  career,  his  best  songs, 
his  highest  conceptions,  were  inspired  by  Italy 
and  the  memory  of  experiences  connected  with 
that  country. 

original  in  mind.  But  we  are  inclined  to  think  that  it 
was  an  idea  connected  with  the  Latin  liturgy  of  the  cruci- 
fixion which  unconsciously  led  the  pen  of  the  poet  to 
write  II  Crucifisso  at  the  head  of  his  poem. 


PART  SECOND 
CHAPTER  I 

RETURN  OF  LAMARTINE  TO  FRANCE  —  THE  SAUL 
OF  ALFIERI  AND  OF  LAMARTINE 

Reverting  now  to  the  point  of  Lamartine's 
first  return  from  Italy,  it  appears  that  the  family 
of  our  poet,  having  had  knowledge  of  his  adven- 
ture with  Graziella  and  feeling  anxious  about  it, 
called  him  home.  He  had  left  France  in  June, 
1811,  and  set  foot  upon  it  again  in  April,  1812. 

Sainte-Beuve  says  that  Lamartine,  not  feel- 
ing in  good  health,  returned  soon  to  Italy,  in 
1813,  and  that  a  number  of  verses  of  the  Medi- 
tations and  many  of  the  reminiscences  that  were 
afterwards  utilized  by  the  poet  in  his  writings, 
date  from  this  journey.1  But  this  may  con- 
fidently be  denied.  Lamartine  saw  Italy  for 
the  second  time  only  in  May,  1820,  when  he 
went  back  to  Naples  as  attache  to  the  French 
embassy. 

His  first  journey  to  Italy,  however,  had  such 
an  immense   influence   on   all   his   future   work 

1  Portraits  contemp.,  i,  290. 


46  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

and  career  that  we  feel  justified  in  ending  the 
first  part  of  our  study  at  the  close  of  it.  Hence- 
forth Lamartine  is  a  different  man  and,  to  ex- 
press it  with  de  Mazade: 

Ce  voyage  en  Italie  a  6te*  une  des  grandes  influences 
de  la  vie  de  Lamartine. .  . .  Ce  premier  voyage  d'ltalie 
est  en  re*alite*  pour  lui  comme  une  fScondation  nouvelle, 
une  sorte  d'emancipation  et  d'extension  d'intelligence 
.  .  .  des  arts,  de  la  poe*sie,  des  souvenirs  et  des  pay- 
sages.2  . . . 

"Quand  il  revint  d'ltalie,  un  poete  6tait  ne*  V 
says  Seche.3 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  great  admiration 
of  young  Lamartine  for  Alfieri,  both  as  a  man 
and  as  a  tragedian.  After  his  journey  to  Italy, 
he  still  continued  (and  with  even  greater  love, 
for  he  now  understood  him  better)  to  read  and 
to  study  the  Italian  poet.  To  de  Virieu  he  wrote, 
saying  that  he  felt  his  head  to  be  full  of  ideas,  and 
that  he  was  meditating  a  tragedy  in  imitation  of 
those  of  Alfieri.  Saul  seemed  to  him  to  be  the 
best  work  that  Alfieri  had  produced,  and  there- 
fore, with  a  strange  daring  that  can  only  be 
forgiven  to  an  enthusiastic  and  inexperienced 
youth,  Lamartine  purposed  to  rewrite  the 
tragedy  in  his  own  fashion.  "The  attempt  to 
rewrite  such  a  masterpiece  can  only  give  rise  to 

2  Op.  cit.y  i,  50.  3  Lamartine,  p.  83. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE        47 

such  a  surprise  as  one  would  feel  if  somebody 
were  to  try  laying  his  hand  again  on  King  Lear 
or  Hamlet,"  observes  Prof.  Colagrosso  of  the 
University  of  Naples.4  But  it  was  not  enough 
to  imitate;  Lamartine  proposed  to  surpass  the 
masterpiece  of  Alfieri !  His  Saul  will  have  "une 
marche  qui  me  paraft  plus  chaude,  et  une  intri- 
gue un  peu  plus  pressee  que  la  sienne."  5  Having 
conceived  the  poem  in  October,  1813,  Lamartine 
finished  his  Saul  in  April,  1818,  and  intended  to 
have  his  tragedy  performed  by  Talma,  but  this 
was  never  done.  The  poet  himself  informs  us 
that  "cette  trag£die  n'a  jamais  ete  representee."  6 
Though  following  closely  in  the  footsteps  of 
Alfieri,  Lamartine's  Saul  falls  far  below  its 
original.  In  his  attempt  to  surpass  Alfieri, 
Lamartine  was  doomed  to  failure  from  the  very 
first,  for  he  was  above  everything  a  lyric  poet, 
while  Alfieri  was  a  genius  eminently  tragic,  stern 
and  unflinching  —  as  was  the  man  himself. 

Our  thought  has  been  well  expressed  by  Alexan- 
dre Vinet  in  the  following  passage: 

La  subjectivite  (car  ce  terme  est  n^cessaire  depuis 
qu'il  existe)  caract£rise  vivement  la  poesie  de  Lamar- 
tine. Rien  dans  aucun  de  ses  ouvrages,  ne  peut  le 
classer  parmi  ces  poetes  que  le  titre  de  dramatiques 

4  Studii  di  letteratura,  Verona,  1892. 

5  Corr.,  i,  206. 

6  Commentaire  sur  la  Medit.  xxvn. 


48  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

ctesigne  suffisamment,  et  dont  le  talent  propre  est  de 
faire  a  volonte*  de  la  vie  d'autrui  la  leur.  Mais  Lamar- 
tine  est  subjectif,  plut6t  qu'intime;  il  est  sensible,  et 
jamais  passionne\  La  sensibility  qui  est  Fimagination 
de  Fame,  de  meme  que  Fimagination  n'est  peut-etre 
que  la  sensibility  de  Fesprit,  n'est  pas  plus  le  principe 
des  passions  fortes  que  le  point  de  depart  de  la  vertu. 
On  peut,  avec  beaucoup  de  sensibility,  6tre  peu  propre 
a  la  passion;  peut-etre  Fest-on  autant  moins  qu'on 
est  plus  sensible:  ce  qui  nous  re*pand  ne  nous  concerne 
pas.7 

On  the  contrary,  every  one  of  AlfierFs  poetical 
productions  has  rightly  been  called  "a  hymn  of 
war,"  and  the  dominating  characteristics  are 
strength,  courage  and  rebellion  against  every 
sort  of  tyranny.  His  versification  is  admirably 
adapted  to  the  expression  of  great  passions, 
just  as  Lamartine's  harmonious,  velvet-like,  tink- 
ling verses  are  wonderfully  suited  to  the  expres- 
sion of  lyric  sentiments. 

Some  general  remarks  and  a  few  definite  par- 
allels will  be  necessary  in  order  to  give  a  fair 
idea  of  both  works. 

The  skeleton  of  the  French  tragedy  is,  to  a 
large  extent,  the  same  as  the  Italian.  One  of  the 
characteristic  differences,  perhaps  the  most  im- 
portant, is  that  Alfieri,  in  this  as  in  all  his  other 
tragedies,  concentrates  the  attention  on  one  cen- 
tral figure,  and  shows  the  gradual  unfolding  of 

7  Vinet,  Etudes  sur  la  Hit.  jr.  au  xixe  s.,  vol.  n,  p.  93. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE        49 

one  great  passion  in  the  different  episodes  of  the 
plot.  This  gives  great  unity  to  all  his  work, 
and  allows  the  author  to  go  deep  into  the  psy- 
chological analysis  of  his  heroes'  passions.  In 
this  case  Saul  fills  the  stage  with  his  own  per- 
sonality. Even  when  he  does  not  actually  stand 
before  our  eyes,  our  thoughts  are  with  him,  and 
we  expect  to  hear  at  any  time  one  of  his  out- 
bursts of  joy  or  sorrow.  Not  so  in  the  case  of 
Lamartine's  tragedy,  where  our  interest  in 
secondary  characters  causes  us  often  to  forget 
the  protagonist. 

The  earlier  scenes  of  both  tragedies  are  very 
similar:  The  soliloquy  of  David  near  SauFs  tent, 
the  meeting  between  the  former  and  Jonathan, 
the  soliloquy  of  Michal  who  has  been  stirred  to 
utterance  by  her  early  morning  sorrow,  her 
meeting  with  Jonathan,  who  prepares  her  for 
the  unexpected  joy  of  meeting  her  husband 
again,  —  these  are  all  scenes  which  Lamartine 
has  taken  from  Alfieri.  The  only  new  element 
we  find,  is  MichaFs  prayer  to  God  to  protect 
Saul,  her  father,  and  to  give  her  back  David,  her 
husband.  After  her  prayer  the  sorrowing  Michal 
feels  great  relief,  and  gives  expression  to  these 
poetic  words: 

|      Quoi !  le  ciel  aurait-il  6coute  ma  pri£re? 

Je  sens  que  ma  tristesse  en  devient  moins  amere: 


50  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

II  semble  qu'en  mon  cceur  une  invisible  main 
Verse  un  baume  inconnu  qui  rafraichit  mon  sein  ! 

These  lines  show,  if  nothing  else,  the  superior- 
ity of  Lamartine  over  Alfleri  in  analyzing  true 
religious  feelings,  in  which  art  he  was  a  master ! 

The  prayer  is  in  fact  answered,  and  shortly 
afterward  Michal  holds  David  to  her  bosom. 

In  the  second  act  of  Alfieri's  tragedy  the  beauty 
of  the  sunrise,  which  seems  to  portend  a  happy 
day,  arouses  Saul's  heart,  and  the  contrast  be- 
tween the  calmness  of  nature  and  the  anguish 
of  the  unhappy  king,  whose  thoughts  are  turned 
to  the  happy  years  of  his  youth,  is  wonderfully 
drawn. 

In  the  French  tragedy,  on  the  contrary,  the 
sky  itself  appears  darkened  before  the  eyes  of 
Saul  by  a  cloud  of  blood,  and  Michal  in  vain 
exclaims : 

Mon  p&re,  calmez-vous,  jamais  sur  la  nature 
L'aurore  n'a  paru  plus  sereine  et  plus  pure. 

The  lamentations  of  Saul  are  identical  in  both 
tragedies.  The  only  difference  is  that  Lamar- 
tine's  Saul  complains  much  more  at  length  of 
his  whitening  hair,  of  his  growing  old,  and  so 
forth.  While  he  fears  the  battle  with  the  Philis- 
tines, the  portrayal  does  not  reveal  in  profound 
strokes  that  more  tremendous  battle  which  is 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE         51 

taking  place  within  his  spirit.  He  is  no  more  the 
king  moved  by  conflicting  feelings,  who,  while 
fearing  David,  yet  desires  his  presence,  who 
never  remains  for  any  length  of  time  in  the  same 
mood,  but  passes  from  one  to  the  other  with 
the  rapidity  of  the  man  who  is  broken  in  mind  as 
well  as  in  body:  A  grave  fault  this !  And  this  is 
where  Alfieri  greatly  excels  Lamartine, 

The  first  two  acts  of  Alfieri  are  combined  in  the 
first  of  Lamartine's  tragedy.  In  the  second  act 
Lamartine  introduces  the  episode  of  the  witch 
of  Endor,  but  in  deference  to  the  " unity  of  place" 
the  scene  occurs  within  Saul's  dwelling,  thus 
losing  not  a  little  of  its  beauty.  Our  imagination 
remains  cold,  as  it  would  do  if  the  three  weird 
sisters  of  Macbeth  were  made  to  utter  their 
prophecies  within  his  own  house !  Lamartine, 
however,  approaches  the  skill  of  Alfieri  in  show- 
ing us  Saul  as  a  tender  father.  —  The  second  act 
of  the  French  tragedy,  like  the  third  of  the  Ital- 
ian, ends  in  SauPs  assault  upon  David;  in  both 
the  wrath  of  the  king  is  provoked  by  David's 
unguarded  speech. 

Lamartine's  third  act  is  composed  of  only  a  few 
scenes,  but  one  of  them,  the  second,  is  perhaps 
the  most  beautiful  of  his  tragedy.  In  it  Lamar- 
tine imitates  Alfieri  in  presenting  Saul  as  at  one 
moment  seized  by  mad  fury,  at  another  pro- 


52  THE   INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

foundly  discouraged;  but  he  adds  something 
original  by  imagining  that  the  music  of  the 
sacrifices  recalls  David's  songs  to  his  memory, 
and  he  asks  Michal  to  repeat  them  to  him  while 
the  music  continues.  The  songs  which  Lamartine 
puts  in  Michal's  mouth  are  similar  to  those  of 
David  in  Alfieri's  tragedy,  but  in  this  latter  case 
the  Italian  poet  shows  more  vividly  the  rapidity 
of  the  feelings  which  in  succession  possess  the 
soul  of  the  old  king. 

In  the  fourth  act  Lamartine  imitates  Alfieri 
in  such  a  way  that  we  may  almost  say  that  while 
he  was  composing  it,  he  must  have  had  the  Ital- 
ian tragedy  constantly  before  his  eyes.  The 
second  scene  is  identical  with  the  third  of  Alfieri. 
Jonathan  reproaches  his  father  for  his  ingrati- 
tude toward  David,  who  is  risking  his  very 
life  for  them.  Saul,  in  his  turn,  tries  to  make 
Jonathan  believe  that  David  has  secret  designs 
against  them  in  order  to  gain  the  royal  crown. 
Jonathan's  answers  show  him  to  be  the  generous 
and  religious-minded  youth  depicted  by  Alfieri, 
acknowledging  David's  superior  merits  and  his 
own  willingness  to  leave  the  throne  to  him  if 
such  be  God's  will.  Then  follows  an  almost 
verbal  imitation  of  Alfieri: 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE        53 


Saul 
La  prudence  te  parle,  il 

est  temps  de  Pentendre, 
Et  ne  Pentends-tu  pas  dire 

ainsi  que  moi: 
"  David,       que       David 

meure,  ou  David  sera 

roi?" 


JONATHAS 

Et    n'entendez-vous    pas 

une    autre   voix   vous- 

meme 
Vous  crier:  "C'est  David 

que    j'ai     choisi,     que 

j'aime: 
C'est  moi  qui  le  protege, 

et  qui  guide  ses  pas; 
Chacun   de   ses   exploits, 

ne  le  prouve-t-il  pas?" 
N'avez    vous    pas    senti 

vous-meme  a  son  appro- 

che, 
S'eVanouir  le  doute,   ex- 

pirer  le  reproche? 
Et,  pret  a  le  frapper,  ne 

vous  ai-je  pas  vu 
Sans  courroux  devant  lui 

reculer,  confondu? 

Saul 

Helas!  il  est  trop   vrai; 

je  ne  sais  quel  empire 

Exerce  ce  David  que  je 
crains,  que  j 'admire ! 


Saul 

Voce  non  odi  entro  il  tuo 
cor,  che  grida? 

"David  fia'l  re?"  — Da- 
vid !  fia  spento  innanzi ! 


Gionata 
E  nel  tuo  core,  in  piu  terri- 

bil  voce, 
Dio  non  ti  grida?    "  II  mio 

diletto  e  David; 
L'  uom    del    Signore    egli 

e".    Tal  nol  palesa 
Ogni  atto  suo?    La  fera, 

invida  rabbia 
D'Abner,  non  fassi  al  suo 

cospetto  muta? 
Tu  stesso,  allor  che  in  te 

rientri,  al  solo 
Apparir  suo,   non  vedi  i 

tuoi  sospetti 
Sparir,    qual   nebbia    del 
pianeta  al  raggio? 


Saul 
. . .  Pur  troppo, 
Vero  tu  parli,  inesplica- 

bil  cosa 
Questo    David    per    me. 
Non  pria  veduto 


54 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 


Sitot  que  je  le  vis  dans  les 
champs  de  Jabes, 

II  plut  a  mes  regards, 
mais  a  mon  cceur  ja- 
mais. 

Depuis  ce  temps,  sans 
cesse,  a  moi-meme  con- 
traire, 

Je  me  cherche,  et  je  suis 
pour  moi-meme  un 
mystere, 

J'ai  vu  flotter  sur  lui  mes 
vceux  et  mes  desseins: 

Absent  je  le  regrette,  et 
present  je  le  crains. 


Io  Pebbi  in  Ela,  che  a' 

miei  guardi  ei  piacque 
Ma    al    cor    non    mai. 

Quando  ad  amarlo   io 

presso 
Quasi  sarei,  feroce  sdegno 

piomba 
In  mezzo,  e  men  divide: 

il  voglio  appena 
Spento,  s'io  il  veggo,  ei 

mi  disarma,  e  colma 
Di  meraviglia  tanta,  ch'  io 

divento 
Al  suo  cospetto  un 

nulla. 


Saul 
II    semble    qu'une    main 

invisible  et  bizarre 
Toujours  vers  lui  m'attire, 

et  toujours  m'en  separe; 
Mon  cceur,  quand  je   le 

hais,    est    pres    de    le 

cherir, 
Mon    cceur,    lorsque     je 

Paime,  est  prompt  a  le 

hair. 
Incroyable  ascendant !  re"- 

pulsion  funeste 
Egarement    de    Fhomme, 

ou  vengeance  celeste ! 
Je  ne  sais;  mais  du  moins 

je  vois  trop  clairement 
Que     des   pretres     cruels 

David  est  Finstrument, 


Saul 
. . .  Ah !  questa  al 

certo, 
Vendetta  £  questa,  della 

man  sovrana. 
Or  comincio  a  conoscerti, 

o  tremenda 
Mano. . . .  Ma  che?  donde 

cagione  io  cerco?. . . . 
Dio  non  Toffesi  mai:  ven- 
detta e  questa 
De'    sacerdoti.      Egli    & 

stromento,  David, 
Sacerdotale,  iniquo. . . . 
...  In  Rama  ei  vide 
Samuel  moribondo:   a  lui 

gli  estremi 
Detti  parlava  V  implacabil 

vegHo. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE         55 


Chi  sa,  chi  sa,  se  il  sacro 

olio  celeste, 
Ond'  ei    mia   fronte  unse 

gia  pria,  versato 
Non  ha  il  fellon  su  la  ne- 

mica  testa? 
Forse  tu  il  sai  .  .  Parla 
. .  Ah !  se  il  sai:  favella. 


Que  des  longtemps,  mon 

fils,  ces  pretres  me  hais- 

sent, 
Qu'a   Pombre   de   Pautel 

leurs  complots  me  tra- 

hissent, 
Qu'ils   menacent   du  ciel 

un  vieillard  malheureux 
Qui  ne  voulut  pas   etre 

aussi  barbare  qu'eux. 
Mais  David  leur  est  cher: 

David,  des  sa  jeunesse, 
Du    vieillard    de    Rama 

cultiva  la  tendresse; 
Samuel,  qui  Paimait,  ex- 

pira  dans  ses  bras; 
On   dit   qu'il   lui   promit 

mon     trone     et     mes 

fitats; 
On  dit  plus,  oui,  Ton  dit 

que  la  main  du  prophete 
Versa  Thuile  des  rois  sur 

sa  coupable  tete; 
S'il  6tait  vrai,  mon  fils  ! 


In  his  fourth  act,  Alfieri  does  not  make  David 
appear  again  in  the  presence  of  Saul.  After  the 
terrible  outburst  of  the  last  scene  of  the  preced- 
ing act,  Saul,  having  now  entered  a  new  phase 
of  his  madness,  leading  him  to  defiance  and 
bravado,  can  no  longer  bear  the  sight  of  David. 

Lamartine,  on  the  contrary,  places  David 
again  before  Saul,  who  allows  himself  to  be 
appeased  by  the  acts  of  humility  of  the  young 


56 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 


warrior.  Soon  after,  however,  Lamartine  imi- 
tates Alfieri  almost  to  the  letter,  both  in  the 
scene  of  Goliath's  sword  worn  by  David,  and  in 
that  of  Ahimelech's  death. 

To  Saul,  accusing  him  of  pride  and  presump- 
tion, David  answers: 


David 
Je  ne  m'exalte  point,  je 

suis  dans  Israel 
Le  second  apr£s  vous,  et 

rien  devant  le  ciel. 


Davide 

. . .  Io,  me  stimare?  . . . 

In  campo 
Non   vil   soldato,    e   tuo 

genero  in  corte 
Mitengo;  e  innanzi  a  Dio, 

nulla  m'  estimo. 


Saul 
Mais  tu  n'ignores  pas,  que 

ses  pretres  cruels 
M'ont  de  ce  Dieu  terrible 

interdit  les  autels, 
Que  pour  lui  mon  encens 

est  un  encens  profane, 
Que  sa  main  me  poursuit, 

que   sa   voix   me   con- 

damne, 
Que,  puisqu'il  se  repent  de 

m'avoir  elu  roi, 
II  n'est  rien  de  commun 

entre  ton  ciel  et  moi. 
Pourquoi,  si  tu  le  sais,  me 

tiens-tu  ce  langage? 
Est-ce  pour  m'outrager? 


Saul 
Ma  sempre  a  me  dTddio 

tu  parli;   eppure, 
Ben   tu  il  sai,    da   gran 

tempo,  hammi  partito 
Da  Dio  P  astuta  ira  crudel, 

tremenda 
De'  sacerdoti . . . 
Ad  oltraggiarmi  il  nomi? 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE 


57 


Davide 
A  dargli  gloria,  io  '1  nomo. 

Ah !  perche  credi, 
Ch'  ei  piu  non  sia  con  te? 

Con  chi  nol  vuole, 
Non  sta:    ma  a  chi  Pin- 

voca,  a  chi  riposto 
Tutto  ha  se  stesso  in  lui, 

manca  egli  mai? 
Ei  sul  soglio  chiamotti;  ei 

vi  ti  tiene: 
Sei  suo,  se  in  lui,  ma  se 

in  lui  sol,  V  affidi. 


David 
C'est  pour  lui  rendre  hom- 

mage. 
Et,  pourquoi  pensez-vous 

que,  d6ja  condamne, 
Le  Dieu  qui  vous  choisit 

vous  ait  abandonn6? 
II  repond  a  toute  heure 

au  cceur  qui  s'humilie, 
Et    n'oublia   jamais    que 

Tingrat  qui  1'oublie. 
C'est  lui  qui,  d£s  Jabes, 

vous    prenant    par    la 

main, 
Du  trone,  encore  enfant, 

vous  ouvrit  le  chemin  . . 
C'est  lui  qui,  confondant 

Perrant  Amal6cite,  .  . 
Jugera   votre   cause   une 

seconde  fois 
Si  votre  cceur,  fidele  a  sa 

reconnaissance, 
En  lui,  mais  en  lui  seul, 

fonde  son  esp£rance. 

Lamartine,  however,  gives  a  new  turn  to  the 
action  at  this  point  and  succeeds  in  creating  a 
beautiful  scene,  which  is  one  of  the  few  that  are 
really  original  in  his  tragedy. 

In  his  fifth  act  also  Lamartine  departs  from 
Alfieri's  treatment.  This  act  is  rich  in  diversity 
of  events,  but  Saul,  who  is  the  very  soul  of  the 
tragedy,  is  not  made  as  prominent,  in  his  last 
struggles  against  himself  and  against  destiny,  as 


58  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

in  Alfieri's  drama.  The  two  tragedies  might 
well  be  compared  to  two  pictures,  identical  in 
subject,  but  in  the  one  the  protagonist  appears 
in  a  high  light,  and  being  strikingly  drawn  and 
colored,  attracts  the  spectator's  whole  attention, 
whereas  in  the  other,  though  the  protagonist 
occupies  the  centre  of  the  canvas,  he  is  not  as 
strongly  outlined,  and  the  eye  of  the  observer 
is  attracted  oftentimes  by  minor  details. 


CHAPTER  II 

La  Mort  de  Jonathas 
Jacopo  Ortis  and   /  Sepolcri  of  Foscolo 

It  might  be  observed  at  this  point  that  Lamar- 
tine  had  doubtless  thought  of  giving  a  different 
ending  to  his  Saul.  We  have  an  evidence  of  this 
in  the  fragment  entitled  La  Mort  de  Jonathas,1 
which  in  some  editions  of  Lamartine's  works 
appears  as  the  twelfth  Harmonie  of  Book  IV.2 

From  this  fragment  we  might  suppose  that, 
Lamartine's  interest  not  being  strongly  centered 
in  Saul,  he  was  led  into  making  Jonathan  the 
central  figure  of  the  closing  scenes  of  his  tragedy. 
Hence  he  had  to  select  a  different  ending,  and 
preserved  this  fragment  under  the  appropriate 
title  of  The  Death  of  Jonathan.  Yet  even  a 
cursory  reading  proves  that  he  meant  to  imitate 
Alfieri  even  in  this.  The  character  of  Saul  is 
here  made  altogether  repellent.  He  is  shown  to 
be  much  more  rebellious  against  God,  much  less 
generous  toward  David,  than  in  the  biblical 
narrative  itself,  and  this  is  a  grave  infelicity.    In 

1  La  Mort  de  Jonathas,  fits  de  Saul,  fragment  d'une 
trag^die  biblique. 

2  E.g.,  Harmonies,  Bruxelles,  1838. 


60  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

the  presence  of  his  dying  son,  who  exhorts  him 
to  repentance  and  to  prayer,  Saul  accuses  God 
of  inhumanity  and  injustice,  in  language  that 
culminates  in  open  defiance: 

Quoi !  ce  nom  d^teste*  dans  la  bouche  est  encore? 
Dieu  le  cheVit ! ...  Eh  bien !  c'est  pour  quoi  je  Pabhorre ! 

So  he  goes  on,  tormenting  Jonathan's  last  mo- 
ments by  covering  David  with  insults,  menacing 
him  with  death,  and  even  calling  him  a  coward: 

II  craint  ce  bras  d6bile  !    II  attend  pour  venir 
Qu'un  trattre  de  ma  perte  aille  le  prevenir ! 

Jonathan  can  endure  no  more,  and  cries  out  in 

anguish: 

. . .  Au  nom  de  mon  heure  supreme 
Epargnez-moi ! 

But  Saul  continues  with  ever  increasing  insults 
against  God: 

Dieu  cruel !  Dieu  de  sang !  Je  te  brave  et  t'outrage  ! 

Tout  ton  pouvoir  ne  peufc  avilir  mon  courage  ! 

Tu  Pemportes,  il  est  vrai;  mais  lorsque  tu  m'abats, 

Je  me  releve  encor  pour  insulter  ton  bras  ! 

Je  ne  me  repens  pas  des  crimes  de  ma  vie; 

C'est  toi  qui  les  commis  et  qui  les  justifie. 

All  this  is  put  in  the  mouth  of  an  Israelite  of 
the  Davidic  era  !  Artistically  speaking,  a  man 
who  had  been  under  the  prophet  Samuel's  in- 
fluence could  never  have  pronounced  words  of 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE         61 

such  a  character,  no  matter  how  perverted  he 
might  become ! 

Hearing  these  horrible  blasphemies,  Jonathan 
cries  out: 

O  blaspheme  !  —  fipargnez,  Dieu  clement !  .  .  .  o  mon 
p&re ! 
Que  cet  6garement  rend  ma  mort  plus  am£re  ! 

Soon  after  this  he  dies,  and  as  the  victorious 
shouts  of  the  enemies  are  heard  Saul  slays  himself. 

Almost  a  year  has  elapsed  since  Lamartine 
returned  to  his  native  land,  but  his  memories  of 
Italy  have  not  been  dimmed.  The  Saturnia 
tellus  from  time  to  time  presents  itself  to  his 
imagination,  surrounded  with  light  and  poetry. 
He  recalls  with  regret  the  quiet  evenings  when, 
facing  the  sea  on  the  veranda  of  the  little  cottage 
where  the  beauty  of  Graziella  was  blooming,  he 
used  to  read  the  Ultime  Lettere  di  Jacopo  Ortis 
while  the  fisherman's  family  were  enjoying  the 
music  of  the  exquisite  language  flowing  from  his 
lips.  "Te  souviens-tu"  —  he  writes  to  de  Virieu 
—  "des  lettres  de  Jacopo  Ortis  que  nous  lisions 
ensemble  k  Naples?  Sais-tu  qu'il  y  a  l&-dedans 
du  vrai  genie,  du  veritable  sentiment  et  du  plus 
vigoureux?  Je  les  relis  avec  delice  et  je  pleure 
en  les  lisant."  3 

3  Corr.,  i,  214. 


62  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

Lamartine  always  preserved  great  admiration 
for  Ugo  Foscolo,  and  till  his  late  years,  when 
he  dictated  his  Cours  familier  de  litterature,  he 
was  pleased  to  find  a  kind  of  affinity  between 
himself  and  the  singer  of  /  Sepolcri,  of  whom  he 
traces  the  portrait  in  this  fashion:  "un  genie 
avort6  dans  la  misere  et  dans  la  proscription,  qui 
tenait  a  la  foi  de  Dante,  de  Goethe,  de  Byron  et 
de  Petrarque."4 

After  his  journey  to  Italy,  which,  as  has  been 
said,  made  of  him  a  new  man  by  revealing  to  him 
a  world  unknown  before,  and  after  having  felt 
the  powerful  influence  of  the  original  intellect 
of  Foscolo,  Lamartine  writes  to  de  Virieu  an 
epistle  in  verse,  in  which  he  tries  to  imitate  J 
Sepolcri.  The  French  poet's  composition  is 
much  shorter  than  that  of  Foscolo.  He  puts  in 
a  few  verses  concepts  which  Foscolo  evolves  at 
length,  but  the  imitation  is  quite  apparent  and 
striking,  as  will  be  seen  at  the  first  glance: 

A  P  ombre  des  cipres  ar-  AlPombra  dei  cipressi  e 

ros6s  par  des  pleurs  dentro  V  urne 

Le  sommeil  de  la  mort  Confortate   di   pianto,    & 

a-t-il  autant  d'horreurs?  forse  il  sonno 

Delia  morte  men  duro? 

Vain    mortel!      Tout    se  

tait  a  cet  instant  su-     Vero  e  ben  Pindemonte! 
pr£me,  Anche  la  speme 

4  Cours  familier  detti.,  entr.  xxn,  p.  144. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE 


63 


Ultima  dea,  fugge  i  sepol 

cri  e  involve 
Tutte   cose   PoLlio  nella 

sua  notte.  .  .  . 
Sol  chi  non  lascia  eredita 

di  affetti 
Poca  gioia  ha  delP  urna  .  . 


La  nuit  tombe,  tout  fuit, 

et  Pesperance  meme 
Qui  jusques  au  sepulcre 

accompagne  nos  pas 
S'arrete  sur  le  seuil,  et  ne 

le  franchit  pas.  .  .  . 
Insense*  qui  rempli  d'or- 

gueil  syst^matique 
Du  pr6juge  sacre  brise  le 

sceptre  antique, 
Et  qui  tou jours  arme*  du 

froid  raisonnement 
Donne  tout  au  calcul,  et 

rien  au  sentiment.5 


To  Lamartine  his  own  verses  seem  to  be  "bien 
frappds,  et  assez  bien  penses."  They  may  be 
so,  but  what  a  difference  between  the  pure  sculp- 
tural beauty  of  form  of  the  Italian  model,  and 
the  vagueness  of  thought  and  artificiality  of  the 
imitation.  Only  a  man  as  presumptuous  as 
Lamartine  could  undertake  so  audacious  an  enter- 
prise.   Truly, 

Inquinat  egregios  adjuncta  superbia  mores. 6 

5  Corr.j  i,  211.  6  Quintilian. 


CHAPTER  III 

julia's  death  and  lamartine's  imitations  of 

petrarch his  ideas  of  colonization 

his  marriage  —  rome  and  naples. 

The  period  from  1813  to  1820  is  of  minor 
interest  to  us.  However,  we  must  not  forget 
that  during  this  time  was  developed  Lamartine's 
love  for  Julia,  the  woman  who  inspired  him  to 
write  Le  Crucifix. 

When  Julia  died,  the  immense  passion  which 
Lamartine  had  felt  for  her  became  a  kind  of 
religion  to  him,  and  then  it  was  that  Petrarch, 
whom  up  to  this  time  Lamartine  had  not  very 
well  understood  or  appreciated,  became  his 
favorite  poet.  In  him,  indeed,  he  found  feelings 
and  emotions  akin  to  his  own.  From  this  time 
on  he  borrows  from  the  Italian  poet  images  and 
similes.  In  Lamartine's  use  of  them,  however, 
they  become  quite  transformed  and  take  on  a 
new  originality  and  individuality. 

We  must  notice,  however,  that  Lamartine  had 
been  reading  and  translating  Petrarch  ten  years 
before  the  publication  of  the  Meditations.  As 
early  as  September,  1810,  he  had  borrowed  from 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE         65 

him  two  verses  which  he  used  as  a  superscription 
for  a  letter  which  he  wrote  upon  La  Nouvelle 
Heloise}  On  March  28,  1813,  he  writes  to 
de  Virieu: 

Je  lis  des  sonnets  de  Petrarque,  que  je  n'entendais 
guere  en  Italie  et  que  je  trouvais  mauvais.  Je  les 
entends  maintenant  comme  du  Francais,  je  ne  sais 
pourquoi,  et  j'y  trouve  des  choses  ravissantes.  II  y 
a  un  temps  pour  tout,  et  telle  disposition  de  Tame  ou 
de  Pesprit  nous  donne  de  la  repugnance  ou  du  go&t 
pour  un  homme  ou  pour  un  livre.  Nous  sommes  vrai- 
ment  de  singuliers  instruments  months  aujourd'hui 
sur  un  ton,  demain  sur  un  autre;  et  moi  surtout  qui 
change  d'id£es  et  de  gotit  selon  le  vent  qu'il  fait,  et  le 
plus  ou  moins  d'elasticite*  de  Fair.2 

The  pocket  edition  of  Petrarch  which  Lamar- 
tine  always  carried  with  him  since  Petrarch  had 
become  his  favorite  poet,  contains,  written  in 
pencil  on  the  margin  and  on  the  blank  pages 
bound  at  the  end  of  the  volume,  a  number  of 
verses,  many  of  them  never  yet  published,  which 
give  an  illustration  of  the  way  in  which  he  under- 
stood and  translated  the  Italian  poet. 

The  comparison  of  the  following  charming 
fragment,  recovered  by  M.  Leon  S£che,  with 
Petrarch's  original,  will  give  a  good  idea  of 
Lamartine's  method: 

1  Cf.  L.  SSche,  Lamartine,  p.  167. 

2  Corr.,  i,  218. 


66 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 


Lamartine 
Vallon    rempli     de    mes 

accords, 
Ruisseau  dont  mes  pleurs 

troublaient  Fonde, 
Pr£s     verdoyants,     foret 

profonde, 
Oiseaux  qui  chantiez  sur 

ses  bords; 

Z6phir  qu'embaumait  son 
haleine, 

Sentier  ou  sa  trace  autre- 
fois 

Me  guidait  sous  Tombre 
des  bois 

Ou  Thabitude  me  ramene ! 

Ce  temps  n'est  plus,  mon 

ceil  glac6 
Vous  cherchant  a  travers 

ses  larmes, 
Sur  vos  bords  jadis  pleins 

de  charmes 
Ne  retrouve  plus  le  passe. 

La    colline   est   pourtant 

plus  belle, 
L'air  est  plus  riant  que 

jamais; 
Ah !   je   le  vois,   ce   que 

j'aimais, 
Ce  n'etait  pas  vous,  c'etait 

elle.3 


Petrarch 
Valle  che  de'  lamenti  miei 

seJ  piena; 
Fiume  che  spesso  del  mio 

pianger  cresci, 
Fere  silvestre,  vaghi  au- 

gelli  e  pesci, 
Che  T  una  e  1'  altra  verde 

riva  affrena; 

Aria  de'  miei  sospir  calda 

e  serena, 
Dolce  sentier,  che  si  amaro 

riesci, 
Colle  che  mi  piacesti,  or 

mi  rincresci, 
Ov'  ancor     per      usanza 

Amor  mi  mena, 

Ben     riconosco    in     voi 

T  usate  forme, 
Non  lasso,  in  me;  che  da 

si  lieta  vita 
Son  fatto  albergo   d'infi- 

nita  doglia. 

Quinci  vedea  }l  mio  bene; 

e  per  quest*  orme 
Torno  a  veder  ond'al  ciel 

nuda  e  gita, 
Lasciando  in  terra  la  sua 

bella  spoglia. 


3  Cf.  also  Chap,  viii,  Part  III  of  this  Essay. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE         67 

Evidently  Lamartine's  composition  is  a  transla- 
tion, or  rather  a  happy  adaptation,  of  the  Italian 
original,  but  how  free  and  how  transformed.  In 
it  we  have  already  the  subject  of  VIsolement, 
and  perhaps  these  four  stanzas  were,  so  to  speak, 
the  first  draft  of  that  beautiful  poem  itself.4  . 

After  the  death  of  Julia  and  Lamartine's  re- 
turn to  his  father's  home,  the  young  poet  spent 
many  sad  days  without  hope  or  comfort.  Speak- 
ing after  the  manner  of  the  afflicted,  his  only 
desire  was  to  die  quickly,  but  fortunately  the 
resiliency  of  youth,  and  Time,  the  great  healer, 
triumphed,  and  he  began  to  care  for  life  again.5 
He  did  not  look  for  a  brilliant  future,  but  among 
the  plans  of  tragedies  and  poems  which  con- 
tinually occupied  his  time,  he  conceived  a  very 
strange  design:   He  proposed  to  de  Virieu  (who 

«  Cf.  S6che\  p.  168. 

6  This  period  of  Lamartine's  life  is  characterized  by  the 
poet  himself  as  "...L'epoque  voluptueuse  de  ma  vie, 
voluptueuse  et  immorale,  entre  mon  amour  que  je  pleu- 
rais,  et  mon  mariage  que  je  pressentais"  (Des  Cognets, 
La  Vie  interieure  de  Lam.,  p.  100).  And  it  seems  that,  be- 
tween his  two  loves,  there  remained  a  place  for  a  third, 
"une  Elvire  vivante  qui  n'6tait  pas  Mile  Birch,"  as  Lan- 
son  puts  it.  The  object  of  this  love  seems  to  have  been 
a  Roman  princess,  "Italienne  de  grande  origine,  de 
beaute  rayonnante,  de  grace  ineffable"  according  to 
Lamartine's  own  description.  But  this  passion  appears 
to  have  been  as  shortlived  as  it  was  strong  for  a  time. 
(Cf .  Lanson,  op.  cit.,  Introd.,  xliv  and  ref .) 


68  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

was  then  secretary  of  the  French  embassy  at 
Monaco)  that  they  should  together  colonize  the 
island  of  Pianosa: 

Facing  Leghorn  —  he  writes  to  his  friend  —  there 
is  a  little  island  six  leagues  in  circumference,  entirely 
uncultivated  and  belonging  to  nobody.  It  is  very 
fertile,  but  the  Italians  either  do  not  know  it  or  do  not 
care.  We  will  ask  for  the  concession  of  it  from  the 
government;  we  will  gather  all  the  money  we  possess, 
we  will  donvey  there  teams,  donkeys,  mules,  and  we 
will  sow  corn.  We  will  build  huts,  and  we  will  form 
a  little  place  of  refuge  for  ourselves  and  for  our  friends. 8 

On  another  occasion  he  proposed  to  some  other 
friends,  the  de  Veydels,  to  colonize  together  a 
little  island  in  the  Bay  of  Naples,  called  VIsoletta! 

But  these  strange  schemes  failed  of  accomplish- 
ment. The  poet  was  destined  to  return  once  more 
to  Naples,  under  circumstances  and  conditions 
very  different  from  those  in  which  he  had  before 
found  himself.  In  1820  occurred  his  marriage. 
His  wife,  Elisabeth  Birch,  an  Englishwoman 
whom  he  had  met  at  Aix,  was  not  beautiful, 
but  had  excellent  qualities  both  of  heart  and 
of  mind,  and  he  greatly  esteemed  and  admired 
her.  The  wedding  was  celebrated  at  Chambery, 
whence  the  young  couple  proceeded  to  Turin, 
where  de  Virieu  was  at  that  time  secretary  of 
the  French  embassy.  Their  design  was  to  go  to 
6  Corr.j  ii,  5.    « 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE         69 

Naples,  stopping  at  Florence  and  Rome.  The 
Countess  of  Albany  again  welcomed  Lamartine 
to  Florence  after  ten  years  of  absence.  Florence, 
with  all  its  art  treasures,  fascinated  the  young 
bride,  who  like  most  of  her  fellow  countrywomen 
was  enthusiastic  for  Italian  art. 

But  Naples,  the  city  where  the  poet  was  about 
to  assume  his  office  at  the  French  embassy,  was 
then  full  of  political  strife.  The  people  demanded 
of  the  old  Bourbon  King,  Ferdinand,  a  constitu- 
tion similar  to  that  which  had  already  been 
granted  by  the  government  of  Spain.  It  was  a 
dangerous  moment,  and  the  new  secretary  of  the 
embassy  was  compelled  to  leave  his  wife  in 
Rome,  where  "il  y  a  de  quoi  enivrer  et  etourdir 
le  monde."  The  eternal  city  always  occupied  a 
prominent  place  in  our  poet's  thoughts,  so  that 
even  while  still  in  France,  in  the  early  days  of 
March,  1819,  he  had  written  "une  Meditation 
politico-poetique  sur  Rome,"  but  as  he  feared 
that  the  ideas  therein  expressed  "ne  le  feraient 
pas  proteger,"  he  withheld  it  from  a  little  volume 
of  his  verses  which  he  was  then  publishing.7 
At  Rome  the  monument  by  Canova  and  St. 
Peter's  dome  are  "les  deux  points  ou  Ton  revient 

7  In  order  to  fill  the  vacant  place,  he  substituted  a 
contre-coeur  another  " petite  ode,"  the  counterpart  of  an 
earlier  piece  entitled  Le  Malheur  (Corr.}  n,  39). 


70  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

toujours,"  while  Naples  henceforth  had  become 
to  Lamartine  "le  pays  de  la  pure  et  brutale 
volupte:  Naples  ressemble  plus  a  TAsie  qu'a 
Tltalie;  il  n'y  a  que  les  delices  du  corps,  Fair,  la 
vue,  le  ciel,  et  la  paresse,  mais  les  delices  de 
rimagination  sont  ici"  (that  is,  in  Rome.)8  A 
few  years  earlier  Lamartine  would  never  have 
made  such  a  remark.  Sorrow  had  already  begun 
to  subdue  in  him  the  passions  of  early  youth. 

To  this  period  of  his  life  would  properly  belong, 
if  real,  an  incident  which  he  relates  in  one  of  his 
letters  to  M.  Dargand,  recently  published  by 
Des  Cognets.  It  seems  that  his  Princesse  Ita- 
lienne,  the  Elvire  vivante  who,  according  to 
Professor  Lanson,  filled  the  gap  in  his  experience 
between  the  dead  Julie  and  Miss  Birch,  had 
sworn  revenge  when  hearing  of  his  marriage. 
Accordingly  she  caused  him  to  be  assaulted  on 
the  way  from  Rome  to  Naples,  "non  par  des 
brigands  vulgaires  mais  par  des  spadassins," 
from  whom  he  escaped  because,  as  he  expresses 
it,  "mon  etoile  me  sauva."  —  This  seems  also  to 
be  confirmed  by  a  letter  of  his  mother  who, 
hearing  of  his  reported  death,  wrote:  "Je  sais 
par  son  ami  M.  de  Virieu,  qu'il  redoutait  de 
revoir  en  Italie  une  personne  qui  ne  lui  pardon- 
nait  pas  son  mariage.  Serait-ce  cela?  ou  autre 
8  Corr.,  ii,  115. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE         71 

chose?  ou  rien?"  But  very  soon  a  letter  from 
Lamartine  himself  assured  her  that  all  was  well. 
Des  Cognets  also  believes  that  there  is  an  allu- 
sion to  these  events  in  the  Nouvelles  Confidences9 
and  that  we  have  an  echo  of  the  Princess's  feel- 
ings in  the  imprecations  of  Regina  when  aban- 
doned by  Saluce.10  However  this  may  be,  the 
fact  remains  that  Lamartine's  death  was  re- 
ported by  the  newspapers  throughout  France, 
and  made  a  great  sensation,  which  soon  was 
turned  into  irony  at  our  poet's  expense,  when 
the  truth  became  known.  Later  on  he  seems  to 
have  succeeded  in  appeasing  the  wrath  of  the 
"Princess"  who,  becoming  reconciled  to  the  fact 
of  his  marriage,  changed  her  feelings  of  jealousy 
and  revenge  into  those  of  friendship  and  admira- 
tion for  him ! 

9  Livre  II,  Chap.  in. 

10  Des  Cognets,  La  Vie  inUrieure  de  Lam.,  p.  124. 


CHAPTER  IV 

LAMARTINE  AND  THE  CARBONARI  —  MEETING  WITH 
GIOACCHINO  ROSSINI  —  AMALFI  AND  THE  SO- 
CALLED    CALABRIAN  SONG 

The  decision  to  leave  his  wife  at  Rome  was  a 
wise  one,  as  Lamartine  found  some  difficulty 
in  crossing  the  borders  of  the  papal  kingdom. 
In  fact,  beyond  Terracina  the  road  was  crowded 
with  companies  of  volontarii  who  thought  only 
of  obeying  their  own  caprice.  Happily  they 
saw  in  Lamartine  a  diplomatic  agent  of  the 
French  government,  on  which  they  counted  to 
back  the  insurrection  against  the  "Holy  Alli- 
ance." Thanks  to  this  mistake  Lamartine 
reached  Naples  the  night  preceding  the  day 
when  General  Pepe,  at  the  head  of  an  army  of 
Calabrian  and  Neapolitan  insurgents,  entered 
the  Capital.  The  situation  was  a  difficult  one 
for  French  diplomacy.  The  question  was  be- 
tween constitutional  and  absolute  government  in 
the  Italian  states  subject  to  Austria.  It  seemed 
natural  that  France  should  interpose  as  mediator 
between  the  kings  and  the  peoples,  to  prevent 
foreign  powers  from  interfering  at  Naples  (and 
■later  on  at  Turin)  in  aid  of  absolutism  and  against 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE         73 

free  institutions.  France  herself  had  adopted  the 
constitutional  regime,  and  it  would  have  been 
illogical  not  to  protect  in  other  states  what  she 
protected  within  her  own  borders.  French  di- 
plomacy, therefore,  could  not  help  but  lean,  at 
least  moderately,  toward  the  constitutional  cause 
at  Naples.  On  the  other  side  the  revolutionary 
movement  was,  more  than  anything  else,  an 
explosion  within  the  army  —  an  explosion  which 
had  been  prepared  by  the  secret  society  of  the 
Carbonari. 

The  French  embassy  at  this  juncture  was 
headed  by  the  Duke  of  Narbonne,  who,  as  Lamar- 
tine  himself  tells  us,  was  a  modest  and  timid 
man,  but  full  of  common  sense  and  very  kind- 
hearted.  He  received  our  young  diplomat  into 
the  embassy  as  a  member  of  the  family.  The 
first  secretary,  M.  de  Fontenay,  was  a  gentleman 
from  Autun,  and  therefore  from  the  same  region 
whence  Lamartine  originally  came.  These  two 
immediately  became  intimate,  and  together  they 
acquired  experience  in  handling  the  difficult  situ- 
ation created  by  the  state  of  affairs  at  Naples. 
We  see  from  the  Correspondance  of  Lamartine 
that  they  were  bound  together  by  real  friendship 
and  mutual  esteem.  When  the  troubles  had 
calmed  to  some  extent,  on  July  29,  1820,  Lamar- 
tine rejoined  his  wife  at  Rome,  with  the  pur- 


74  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

pose  of  bringing  her  back  with  him  to  Naples. 
But,  strange  to  say,  the  delightful  impression 
which  Naples  had  made  upon  the  poet  during  his 
first  sojourn  in  1811,  did  not  renew  itself  on  this 
occasion.  It  was  the  Carbonari  that  made  all 
the  difference  !  Lamartine  missed  Florence,  be- 
cause Naples  had  now  become  to  him  "le  chaos, 
rien  n'en  sort.  II  faut  se  contenter  de  la  voluptS 
des  yeux  et  du  divin  climat."  "Naples,"  he 
exclaims,  "is  no  more  Naples;  there  are  clubs 
of  the  Carbonari  even  in  the  temples  of  Baia 
and  Pozzuoli !  Liberty  is  beautiful,  but  it  was 
preferable  upon  the  Capitol,  rather  than  on 
these  delicious  shores  of  the  Campania,  where 
one  expects  to  find  only  pleasures,  rest  and 
songs."  1 

Who  knows  but  that — at  a  much  later  date, 
when  he  was  the  arbiter  of  France's  destiny 
—  Lamartine's  lack  of  enthusiasm  for  the  idea 
of  Italian  unity,  which  was  the  cherished  aim  of 
all  his  friends  of  Italy,  may  have  been  due  to 
the  influence  of  this  early  unfavorable  impres- 
sion made  upon  him  by  the  Carbonari?  Inci- 
dents apparently  trifling  often  left  an  indelible 
trace  on  his  sensitive  and  emotional  nature,  and 
this  would  be  at  least  a  possible  and  perhaps  a 
plausible  explanation. 

1  Corr.,  ii,  118. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE         75 

However,  the  poet's  life  was  delightful  to  him 
even  then;  his  conjugal  happiness  was  perfect,  as 
a  result  of  the  ever  growing  affection  with  which 
his  companion  gradually  inspired  him,  and  of 
the  expectation  of  his  approaching  paternity. 
During  this  time  the  happy  pair  became  ac- 
quainted with  an  Italian  lady  of  high  rank,  the 
Marchioness  Gagliati;  but  more  especially  we 
have  to  note  the  acquaintance  of  Lamartine  with 
Gioacchino  Rossini,  who  at  the  time  was  still  very 
poor  and  almost  unknown.  Their  meeting  took 
place  in  the  reception  hall  of  the  Duchess  d'Alba. 
The  poet  at  first  did  not  pay  any  particular  atten- 
tion to  the  young  musician,  who  was  trying  his 
earliest  footsteps  on  the  road  to  glory;  but 
Rossini  himself,  without  having  been  introduced, 
approached  the  young  diplomat.  Lamartine 
writes  of  him  as  follows: 

II  6tait  un  beau  jeune  homme  au  visage  male,  & 
Pceil  melaneolique,  mais  ferme,  comme  celui  d'un 
homme  qui  a  la  conscience  que  sa  tristesse  est  un  genie. 
II  me  tendit  une  main  fraternelle  avec  un  geste  k  la 
fois  hardi  et  bienveillant;  puis  d'une  voix  sonore,  con- 
centred, tragique,  mais  avec  un  accent  legerement 
transalpin,  il  me  r£cita  quelques  strophes  de  la  medita- 
tion, le  Desespoir  qui  venait  de  parattre  a  Paris. . .  .2 

Afterwards  Rossini  mentioned  his  name.    It  is 

2  Harmonies,  etc.,  in  (Euvres  Completes  de  L.}  ed.  crit.,  iv, 
238  (Encore  un  hymne). 


76  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

easy  to  understand  that  to  Lamartine  this  was 
the  most  pleasant  and  gratifying  sort  of  a  sur- 
prise that  could  have  happened  at  an  Italian 
reception.  From  that  time  on  he  had  for  Rossini 
the  greatest  feelings  of  admiration.  To  continue 
the  above  quotation,  Lamartine  calls  him  "le 
plus  delicieux  genie  du  temps,"  and  describes  his 
music  as  "ce  cantique  sans  paroles,  dont  une 
seule  note  vaut  tous  nos  vers." 

Doubtless  the  beautiful  music  of  Rossini's 
operas  must  have  had  something  to  do  with  the 
inspiration  of  our  poet,  though  we  are  unable  to 
define  when  and  how  far  this  may  have  been  the 
case. 

During  his  sojourn  at  Naples  Lamartine  paid 
frequent  visits  to  the  neighboring  cities,  among 
them  Amalfi,  where  he  must  have  remained  for 
some  time,  if  we  are  to  believe  his  own  statement, 
and  Prof.  Lanson  observes  that  the  visit  in  ques- 
tion would  most  naturally  belong  to  this  period  of 
our  poet's  career.  Amalfi,  with  its  picturesque  old 
cathedral,  with  the  vestiges  of  its  ancient  mari- 
time greatness,  may  surely  have  attracted  a  poet 
such  as  Lamartine,  but  we  cannot  so  easily  accept 
the  reality  of  the  experience  he  relates  in  con- 
nection with  his  visit.  "There  is  a  fragment  of 
national  poetry  in  Calabria,"  he  says,  "which 
I  have  often  heard  sung  by  the  women  of  Amalfi 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE         77 

as  they  were  returning  from  the  fountain.  Some 
time  ago  I  translated  it  in  verse  form,  and  these 
verses  seem  to  apply  to  the  subject  I  am  now 
treating,  so  that  I  cannot  deny  myself  the  pleas- 
ure of  inserting  them  here."  The  place  in  which 
he  inserted  them  is  an  essay  entitled  Des  destinees 
de  la  poesie  which  appeared  as  a  second  preface 
to  the  edition  of  the  Meditations  of  1849,  although 
the  essay  was  written  in  1834.  Lamartine's  geog- 
raphy is  here  entirely  at  fault,  since  Amalfi  never 
belonged  to  Calabria  but  to  Campania,  and  such 
a  mistake  is  difficult  to  understand  on  the  part 
of  one  familiar  with  the  places  which  he  men- 
tions. Yet  since  our  poet  was  writing  years  after 
the  event  took  place,  we  may  impute  the  error 
to  his  habitual  carelessness.  But  what  we  cannot 
believe  is  his  having  heard  a  Calabrian  national 
song  familiarly  repeated  by  the  women  of  Amalfi, 
and  his  having  copied  and  translated  it.  The 
dialects  of  Calabria  are  very  different  in  con- 
struction, vocabulary  and  especially  in  pronun- 
ciation from  that  of  Amalfi,  which  is  purely 
Neapolitan,  while  the  former  are  closely  con- 
nected with  Sicilian  !  Lamartine  must  have  been 
unaware  of  this  when  he  made  his  assertion.  And 
when  could  he  himself  have  mastered  the  Cala- 
brian dialect  well  enough  to  write  out  a  song 
from  the  lips  of  a  washerwoman,  not  to  mention 


78  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

his  having  translated  it? 3  We  notice,  further- 
more, that  the  metre  which  Lamartine  has  chosen, 
evidently  in  order  to  imitate  the  original  Cala- 
brian,  granting  that  such  an  original  really  existed, 
is  totally  unlike  the  metres  habitually  found  in 
popular  songs  of  Southern  Italy.  A  glance  at 
the  first  stanza  will  be  sufficient  for  our  purpose : 

Quand,  assise  k  douze  ans  a  Tangle  du  verger, 
Sous  les  citrons  en  fleurs  ou  les  amandiers  roses, 
Le  souffle  du  printemps  sortait  de  toutes  choses, 
Et  faisait  sur  mon  cou  mes  boucles  voltiger, 
Une  voix  me  parlait,  si  douce  au  fond  de  Fame 
Qu'un  frisson  de  plaisir  en  courait  sur  ma  peau. 
Ce  n'e'tait  nulle  voix  d'enfant,  d'homme  ou  de  femme, 

C'6tait  vous,  c'6tait  vous,  6  mon  Ange  gardien, 
C'etait  vous  dont  le  cceur  deja  parlait  au  mien  ! 

3  The  following  is  a  stanza  of  a  real  Calabrian  song  by 
the  famous  Calabrian  poet  Vincenzo  Padula,  with  the 
translation  in  Neapolitan.  If  it  were  sung,  the  differences 
of  pronunciation  would  greatly  increase  the  dissimilarity : 

Calabrian  Neapolitan 

Si  scippava  de  lu  sinnu  Se  strappaie  d'  o'  seno 

Propriu    'u  figliu,    e    cud'  Propio  o'  figlio,  e  co'  amore 

amuri  Je  dette  come  'na  mela 

Ci  fu  dunau  cumu  nu  milu  E  ie  dicette  "tenetella" 

E  li  dissi  "tenitilu!  "  Ma  'ntanto  che  chilla  suo- 
Ma  tramenti  chi  si  suonna  gna 

Pe'  lu  prieju,  e  pe'  lu  trillu  P'  a'  gioia  e  V  allerezza 

Si  risbiglia  la  Madonna  Se  sceta  a'  Maronna 

E  si  guarda  e  lu  milillu  E  varda  a'  la  melella. 

—  (La  notte  di  Natale) 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE         79 

Professor  Lanson  observes:  "Mon  collegue  et 
ami  M.  Henry  Hauvette,  a  bien  voulu  demander 
pour  moi  a  quelques-uns  de  ses  amis  italiens  des 
eclaircissements  sur  Toriginal  italien  de  ces  vers. 
Personne  n'a  pu  le  decouvrir."  If  we  are  correct 
in  our  deductions  the  obvious  answer  is  that  such 
an  original  never  existed,  and  that  the  whole 
story  is  one  of  the  many  genial  inventions  of 
Lamartine,  who  wanted  to  give  a  romantic  and 
interesting  background  to  the  verses,  which  he 
must  have  composed  for  the  occasion,  as  they 
fit  his  subject  too  well  to  be  a  mere  coincidence ! 
There  remains,  however,  another  important 
question  to  be  answered.  If  Lamartine  had  in- 
vented the  story  ab  imis  fundamentis  what  need 
had  he  to  pretend  that  his  verses  were  a 
" translation' '  of  a  popular  song  of  Southern 
Italy?  Was  there  not  something  in  his  mind, 
at  least,  which  suggested  to  him  the  idea  of 
putting  his  song  in  the  mouth  of  a  young  woman 
from  Southern  Italy,  as  if  he  had  actually  "  trans- 
lated "  it  from  the  Italian? —  To  get  at  the  source 
of  Lamartine's  inspiration  we  must  transport 
ourselves  to  the  environment  where  he  was  living 
at  the  time  he  composed  the  " essay"  in  which 
the  verses  are  found.  Now,  we  have  discovered 
an  interesting  passage  in  a  letter  he  wrote  to  his 
friend,  M.  D'Ouilly,  in  which  he  describes  how 


80  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

and  where  he  composed  his  verses,  at  the  par- 
ticular period  of  his  career  referred  to: 

. . .  Quand  done  Fanned  politique  a  fini,  quand  la 
chambre,  les  conseils  g£n6raux  de  departement  etc. 
me  laissent  deux  mois  seul  et  libre  dans  cette  chere 
masure  de  Saint  Point  que  vous  connaissez,  et  ou  vous 
avez  ose*  coucher  quelquefois  sous  une  tour  qui  tremble 
aux  coups  du  vent  d'ouest,  ma  vie  de  poete  recom- 
mence pour  quelques  jours.  .  . .  Je  m'assieds  pres  de 
la  vieille  table  de  chene  ou  mon  pere  et  mon  grand-pere 
se  sont  assis.  Elle  est  couverte  de  livres  froiss6s  par 
eux  et  par  moi:  leur  vieille  Bible,  un  grand  P6trarque  in- 
4°  . . .  un  Homere,  un  Virgile,  un  volume  de  lettres  de 
Cic6ron,  un  tome  d^pareille*  de  Chateaubriand,  de 
Goethe,  de  Byron,  tous  philosophes  ou  poetes.  Au 
milieu  de  tous  ces  volumes  poudreux  et  6pars,  quelques 
feuilles  de  beau  papier  blanc,  des  crayons  et  des  plumes 
qui  invitent  a  crayonner  et  a  6crire.  Le  coude  appuye* 
sur  la  table  et  la  tete  sur  la  main,  le  cceur  gros  de  senti- 
ments et  de  souvenirs,  ...  je  me  dis:  "Ecrivons." 
Comme  je  ne  sais  pas  ecrire  en  prose,  faute  de  metier 
et  d'habitude,  j'6cris  des  vers. 4 

This  explains  to  us,  in  the  first  place,  why,  in 
the  midst  of  his  "essay,"  he  introduces  his  poem 
as  soon  as  the  ideas  he  wanted  to  express  be- 
come too  lofty  for  mere  prose.  But,  more  im- 
portant still,  he  tells  us  that  Goethe  was  one  of 
his  familiar  authors,  whose  volume  was  lying 
upon  his  work-table,  "froisse"  by  his  constant 
use  of  it.     Now  one  of  the  most  remarkable 

4  Preface  to  the  Recueillements  poetiques,  ed.  Hachette, 
Paris,  1863. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE         81 

heroines  of  that  great  poet  is  &  young  woman, 
from  Southern  Italy,  who  sings  a  beautiful  song 
about  springtime  in  her  native  land,  which  in  its 
expressions,  in  its  subject  and  even  in  its  metrical 
arrangement  resembles  so  closely  the  first  stanza 
of  Lamartine's  Calabrian  song  already  quoted, 
that  the  conviction  logically  follows  that  Lamar- 
tine  must  have  (consciously  or  unconsciously, 
we  cannot  absolutely  affirm)  imitated  it !  It  is 
not  to  any  Italian  original,  but  to  the  German  of 
Goethe's  Mignon  that  we  have  to  look  for  the 
inspiration  of  Lamartine's  Calabrian  song. 

The  singer  is  the  same,  a  young  woman;  the 
country  is  the  same,  Southern  Italy;  the  subject 
is  the  same,  a  garden  in  springtime;  the  expres- 
sions are  the  same,  "les  citrons  en  fleurs,"  the 
"souffle  du  printemps,"  etc.;  and  the  meter  is 
practically  the  same: 

Kennst  du  das  Land,  wo  die  Citronen  bluhn? 
And  even  the  striking  refrain: 

"C'Stait  vous,  c'6tait  vous,  6  mon  Ange  gardien," 
strongly  suggests  Goethe's: 

Dahin!  Dahin!  mocht'  ich,  o  mein  Geliebter,  ziehn. 

Yet,  after  all,  this  implies  once  again  that  it 
is  the  thought  of  Italy  and  Graziella  that  strikes 
most  his  imagination,  even  while  reading  a  foreign 
author,  for  he  cannot  have  failed  to  see  the  analogy 
between  Mignon  and  his  early  love  ! 


CHAPTER  V 

ULA  SENTINELLA" —  LAMARTINE  AND  THE 
DUCHESS  OF  DEVONSHIRE 


Those  days  at  Naples  were  happy  ones  for 
Lamartine  and  his  wife.  They  were  well  satis- 
fied with  each  other's  company,  yet  the  poet 
lamented  the  lack  of  congenial  friends,  not  so 
much  on  account  of  himself  as  on  account  of  his 
mother-in-law,  Mrs.  Birch,  who  caused  the  young 
couple  to  feel  the  effects  of  her  ill-humor.  As 
the  autumn  was  approaching  they  had  rented  a 
little  villa  at  Ischia,  the  beautiful  isle  so  dear  to 
the  poet,  the  isle  which  inspired  him  with  some 
of  his  sweetest  lyrical  themes  and  once  again 
when  he  wrote  the  Confidences.  The  villa  was 
called  "La  Sentinella"  and  was •  surrounded  by 
grape  vines;  while  the  Epomeo,  the  volcanic 
mountain  which  continually  menaces  the  island, 
dominated  it. 

During  his  sojourn  at  Ischia  Lamartine  visited 
Naples  nearly  every  day  for  the  business  of  his 
office.  Coming  back,  he  used  to  jump  into  a  boat 
at  Pozzuoli,  which  he  himself  rowed,  and  as  he 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE        83 

reached  the  shore  he  would  find  his  young  wife 
waiting  for  him.  Together  they  climbed  the 
path  leading  to  the  villa,  across  the  vineyards, 
and  in  that  quietude,  the  more  appreciated  by 
reason  of  the  vicinity  of  the  tumultuous  city, 
they  enjoyed  happiness  without  a  cloud: 

Viens:  Pamoureux  silence  occupe  au  loin  Tespace; 
Viens,  du  soir  pr&s  de  moi  respirer  la  fratcheur  ! 
C'est  l'heure:  k  peine  au  loin  la  voile  qui  s'efface 
Blanchit,  en  ramenant  le  paisible  pecheur  . . . 
. . .  Et  nous,  aux  doux  penchants  de  ces  verts  £lys£es 
Sur  ces  bords  oil  F  Amour  eut  cach6  son  Eden: 
Au  murmure  plaintif  des  vagues  apais^es, 
Aux  rayons  endormis  de  Fastre  61ys6en; 
Sous  ce  ciel  ou  la  vie,  oil  le  bonheur  abonde, 
Sur  ces  rives  que  Pceil  se  platt  k  parcourir 
Nous  avons  respirS  cet  air  d'un  autre  monde 
Elise  ! . . .  Et  cependant  on  dit  qu'il  faut  mourir ! 

Thus  sang  Lamartine  at  this  time,  and  through- 
out the  tender  lyric  poem  he  is  picturing  himself 
and  his  companion.  "En  1821  je  passai  P6t6 
dans  Tile  d'Ischia  avec  la  jeune  femme  que  je 
venais  d'epouser.  J'etais  heureux;  j'avais  besoin 
de  chanter,  comme  tout  ce  qui  d6borde  demo- 
tions calmes."  l 

The  Chant  ft  amour  belongs  also  to  this  period. 
It  is  a  "polymetric"  composition,  sparkling  here 
and  there  with  beautiful  biblical  images.     This 

1  Nouvelles  mid.  poet,  in  CEuvres  compl.,  in,  285. 


84  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

exquisite  song  again  exalts  the  sweetness  of  a 
pure  and  chaste  love,  that  of  the  husband  for 
his  wife: 

Pourquoi  de  tes  regards  percer  ainsi  mon  ame? 
Baisse,  oh  !  baisse  tes  yeux  pleins  d'une  chaste  flamme: 

Baisse-les,  ou  je  meurs  ! 
Viens,  plut6t,  leve-toi !    Mets  ta  main  dans  la  mienne; 
Que  mon  bras  arrondi  t'entoure  et  te  soutienne 

Sur  ces  tapis  de  fleurs. 

Lamartine  was  also  the  poet  of  the  sea,  and 
at  Naples  and  Ischia,  in  particular,  he  felt  the 
mysterious  fascination  of  the  waves  overlapping 
and  overcoming  each  other,  gathering  in  rhyth- 
mic swells,  speaking  to  the  soul  vaguely  of  the 
unknown,  of  other  worlds  and  planets: 

De  rinfini  sublime  image, 
De  flot  en  flot  l'ceil  emporte* 
Te  suit  en  vain  de  plage  en  plage: 
L'esprit  cherche  en  vain  ton  rivage 
Comme  ceux  de  l^ternite. 2 

Thus  he  sang  to  the  sea  which  bathed  his  dear 
island,  the  guardian  of  his  happiness.  Often- 
times husband  and  wife  took  walks  through  the 
island,  carrying  with  them  only  books  in  Italian 
with  crayons  and  sketch-books.  The  poet,  seated 
upon  the  grass  and  caressed  by  the  glances  and 
smiles  of  his  youthful  bride,  used  to  give  written 

2  Nouv.  med.  poetiquesj  (Adieux  dla  mer). 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE        85 

expression  to  the  brilliant  inspirations  which 
came  to  him  from  so  many  sources.  But  he  him- 
self confesses  that  the  serenity  of  his  horizon  was 
dimmed  by  one  cloud,  the  memory  of  Graziella. 
Seeing  from  afar  the  ruins  of  her  house  on  the 
neighboring  island  of  Procida,  recollections  as 
poignant  as  remorse  assailed  him.  "Mais  la 
jeunesse  a  des  vegetations  qui  recouvrent  tout, 
meme  les  tombes."  3 
A  little  later  he  wrote  to  de  Virieu: 

Enfin  j'ai  jete  Pancre  pour  toujours,  et  si  jamais 
un  destin  comme  on  n'en  voit  pas  me  donne  plus 
d'argent  que  je  n'en  pourrais  manger,  m'accorde  plus 
de  douze  mois  dans  Tannee,  j'en  viendrai  r£gulierement 
passer  sept  ou  huit  ici.  Ischia  c'est  le  chef-d'oeuvre  de 
la  baie  de  Naples,  de  PItalie,  du  monde;  c'est  le 
se^our  complet  rev6  si  souvent  par  nous,  et  reconnu 
quelquefois  en  details,  ici  ou  la:  mais  ici  c'est  lui  tout 
entier.4 

And  in  the  "  commentaire  "  to  the  Meditation 
which  bears  the  name  of  the  island:  "C'est  Tile 
de  mon  coeur,  c'est  l'oasis  de  ma  jeunesse,  c'est 
le  repos  de  ma  maturite.  Je  voudrais  que  cela 
flit  le  recueillement  de  mon  soir,  s'il  vient  un 
soir!" 

Words  more  enthusiastic  than  these  could 
hardly  be  found  to  describe  Lamartine's  feelings 

8  Cours  familier  de  litt.,  entr.  cxxin,  p.  199. 
4  Corr.,  ii,  133. 


86  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

toward  this  beautiful  part  of  Italy.  In  October 
the  young  couple  returned  to  Naples,  and  there 
Lamartine  wrote  his  famous  ode  to  the  Duke  of 
Bordeaux,5  and  though  the  season  was  declining, 
yet  the  beauty  of  the  place  held  him  with  the 
same  fascination  as  ten  years  before.  But  the 
revolution  which  for  some  time  had  been  prepar- 
ing, finally  broke  out  at  Naples.  Such  a  condi- 
tion of  affairs  was  very  unfavorable  to  a  woman 
who  was  in  the  period  of  childbirth,  as  was 
Mme  de  Lamartine.  Her  husband,  therefore, 
brought  her  to  Rome,  where,  on  May  8,  1821, 
Alphonse  was  born.  He  was  baptized  at  St. 
Peter's,  and  his  god-father  was  the  marquis 
Gagliati.  This  was  one  of  the  happiest  periods 
in  the  life  of  the  poet.  The  little  child  was  fine 
and  strong,  and  his  own  mother  nursed  him.  The 
health  also  of  the  parents  had  greatly  improved 
after  the  change  of  climate;  finally,  they  found  in 
Rome  that  cultured  and  elegant  society  which 
they  had  missed  so  much  at  Naples.  The  birth 
of  the  child  in  Rome  constituted  an  additional 
bond  of  affection  between  the  poet  and  Italy. 

5  Professor  G.  Lanson  observes  that  this  ode  "fut  faite 
sans  enthousiasme.  .  .  .  Sous  le  ciel  de  Naples,  avec  sa 
jeune  femme,  au  milieu  des  souvenirs  idealises  de  son 
premier  voyage,  la  politique  int6rieure  de  son  pays  ne 
rintSressait  plus  guere."  (Introd.  lix.  Cf.  Corr.,  n, 
p.  142,  ed.  1881-2.) 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE        87 

In  Rome  dwelt  the  Duchess  of  Devonshire, 
protector  of  all  literary  and  artistic  geniuses,  in 
whose  palace  met  the  choicest  and  most  refined 
society  that  one  could  desire.  All  her  immense 
wealth  was  employed  in  endeavoring  to  bring 
about  a  second  Renaissance  in  Italy,  and  men 
like  Alexander  Humboldt  and  Canova  were  fre- 
quent visitors  at  her  palace. 

The  life  which  her  friends  led  was  really  worthy 
of  them.  In  the  morning  they  started  out  from 
the  studios  of  the  most  celebrated  artists,  to 
visit  excavations  and  ruins  such  as  those  of  the 
Golden  House  of  Nero  and  the  other  great  relics 
and  monuments  of  ancient  art.  In  the  evening 
they  listened  to  the  delightful  melodies  of  Rossini 
at  the  famous  Teatro  Tordinona.  Then,  with 
their  souls  still  saturated  with  that  music,  they 
continued  the  night  in  the  drawing-rooms  of  the 
Duchess,  among  the  diplomats  from  the  prin- 
cipal European  courts  and  amid  the  swarm  of 
famous  artists,  who,  as  in  the  time  of  Leo  X, 
mingled  freely  with  the  mightiest.  Sometimes 
Lamartine  was  asked  to  recite  some  of  the  Medi- 
tations which  he  had  composed  the  evening  before 
while  amidst  the  spell  of  the  murmur  of  the 
picturesque  waterfalls  of  Tivoli.  One  of  those 
that  were  thus  recited  was  La  branche  oVamandier, 
which  was  suggested  to  him  by  the  gentle  act  of 


88  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

a  young  girl  who,  as  he  was  passing  through 
Albano  in  the  month  of  February  while  all  the 
neighboring  hills  were  smiling  with  peach  and 
almond  blossoms,  plucked  a  branch  in  full  bloom 
and  threw  it  into  Lamartine's  coach  with  a  wish 
of  good  fortune.6 

Late  in  the  night,  the  guests  of  the  Duchess  of 
Devonshire  would  return  to  her  palace  after  hav- 
ing contemplated  the  spectral  moonlit  forms  of  the 
Pantheon  or  the  Colosseum.  The  enthusiasm  of 
Lamartine  for  the  antiquity  and  the  greatness 
of  Rome  and  Roman  art  grew  with  each  of  these 
visits  and  lifted  him  up  to  the  highest  planes  of 
intellectuality. 

In  the  month  of  April  the  poet  left  Rome, 
and  before  his  departure  he  addressed  to  the 
Duchess  the  Meditation  entitled  La  liberte,  ou 
une  nuit  a  Rome,  a  hymn  to  liberty  inspired  by 
the  ruins  of  ancient  Rome.  At  this  time  also 
he  wrote  the  Meditation  entitled  Le  lezard.  The 
latter  poem  was  suggested  to  Lamartine  in  the 
following  striking  and  original  manner.  One  day 
he  was  alone  in  the  Colosseum  seated  upon  the 
grass,  reading  Tacitus  and  contemplating  the 
images  which  his  reading  brought  before  his 
mental  vision.  While  engaged  in  these  musings 
his  eyes  were  almost  unconsciously  recomposing 
6  Nouvelles  med.  poet.,  xvi.     (Comment.) 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE         89 

the  letters  of  the  name  of  Augustus,  engraved 
upon  the  wall: 

J'en  6pelais  le  premier  signe; 
Mais,  d^concertant  mes  regards, 
Un  lezard  dormait  sur  la  ligne 
Ou  brillait  le  nom  des  C6sars. 


Consul,  C6sar,  maitre  du  monde, 

Pontife,  Auguste,  6gal  aux  dieux, 

L'ombre  de  ce  reptile  immonde 

Eclipsait  ta  gloire  a  mes  yeux ! 

La  nature  a  son  ironie: 

Le  livre  6chappa  de  ma  main. 

O  Tacite,  tout  ton  g&iie 

Raille  moins  fort  Porgueil  humain  ! 


CHAPTER  VI 

LAMARTINE   AND    CHARLES    ALBERT THE   CINQUE 

MAGOIO 

The  new  political  conditions  in  the  kingdom 
of  Naples  after  the  return  of  King  Ferdinand,  did 
not  permit  the  French  government  to  keep  there 
the  same  diplomatic  representatives  that  had 
been  present  during  the  revolutionary  movement. 
Thus  Lamartine  received  an  indefinite  leave  of 
absence  of  which  he  took  advantage  by  return- 
ing to  France.  He  departed  in  the  spring,  tak- 
ing the  road  to  Florence  by  way  of  Narni  and 
Terni.  At  that  time,  after  the  defeat  inflicted 
by  the  Austrians  at  Novara  on  the  so-called 
"Constitutional  Army,"  Charles  Albert,  then 
prince  of  Savoia-Carignano,  had  been  compelled 
by  his  uncle,  Charles  Felix,  to  retire  to  Florence 
as  a  penalty  for  his  liberal  tendencies.  The  young 
prince  was  living  in  solitude,  occupying  one  of 
the  wings  of  the  Pitti  Palace.  Having  been  told 
that  the  French  poet  and  diplomat,  Lamartine, 
was  in  Florence,  the  prince  sent  his  secretary, 
Silvano  de  Costa,  who  was  a  friend  of  Lamartine's, 
requesting  of  him  a  secret  interview  and  stating 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE         91 

that  the  prince  was  disposed  to  come  in  person 
to  the  poet's  house.  Lamartine,  however,  did  not 
allow  the  exiled  prince  thus  to  derogate  from  his 
dignity,  but  went  in  person  to  present  his  homage 
to  him  at  the  Pitti  Palace.1 

Lamartine  knew  the  history  of  Charles  Albert 
and  the  attempt  he  had  made  at  Novara.  He 
always  blamed  the  uncertain  character  of  that 
prince  —  ever  halting  and  hesitating  even  during 
the  unfolding  of  the  events  which  brought  about 
the  liberty  and  independence  of  Italy.  Many 
years  afterwards,  the  poet  wrote  one  of  the  sever- 
est judgments  that  have  ever  been  pronounced 
on  the  political  conduct  of  Charles  Albert,  and 
later  still  he  fought  against  the  political  annexa- 
tion of  the  Italian  provinces  to  the  kingdom  of 
Piedmont.  This  was  at  the  time  when  he  him- 
self was  one  of  the  members  of  the  provisional 
government  which  controlled  the  destinies  of 
France.  This  dictum  of  Lamartine's  drew  forth 
a  letter  from  Alessandro  Manzoni  in  behalf  of 
the  Italian  patriots.  We  quote  here  a  few  pas- 
sages tending  to  show  the  intimate  relationship 
of  affection  and  of  mutual  respect  which  existed 
between  these  two  poets,  notwithstanding  their 
political  disagreement : 

1  Lamartine  himself  remarks,  apropos  of  this  episode, 
that  although  it  sounds  incredible  it  is  nevertheless  true. 


92  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

Cher  Lamartine, 
. . .  cette  Italie  que  vous  aimez  et  dont  vous  etes 
aim6,  n'avez  vous  pas  senti,  grand  et  bon  Lamartine, 
qu'il  n'y  avait  pas  de  mots  plus  durs  a  lui  jeter  que 
celui  de  diversity  et  que  ce  mot,  prononce*  par  vous 
comme  un  mot  d'avenir  resume  pour  elle  un  long 
passe*  de  malheur  et  d'abaissement?  Mais  cette  di- 
versity n'a  pas  pour  cause  le  peuple  de  lTtalie,  car  il 
n'y  a  pas  plus  de  difference  entre  l'homme  des  Alpes 
et  celui  de  Palermo,  qu'entre  Fhomme  des  bords  du 
Rhin  et  celui  des  Pyr6n£es. . . .  Mais  ici  (j'ose  vous 
le  dire  avec  la  franchise  a  laquelle  le  pouvoir  dont  vous 
6tes  investi  vous  donne  un  droit  de  plus),  ici  vous  etes 
alle*  au  dela,  vous  avez  fait  plus  que  manager. . . . 
Adieu,  cher  poete,  car  vous  ne  parviendrez  pas  a  faire 
oublier  ce  titre-la.  Vous  avez  ici,  parmi  la  foule  des 
personnes  qui  pensent  a  vous,  un  vieux  ami,  un  chre^ 
tien,  qui  incapable  de  par  sa  nature  de  se  meler  active- 
ment  aux  grandes  affaires  de  ce  monde,  a  plus  de  temps 
pour  implorer  Fassistance  de  Dieu  sur  ceux  qui  en  sont 
charges. 2 

In  his  passage  through  Florence  on  his  way- 
back  from  Rome,  Lamartine  was  loaded  with 
kindnesses  by  the  Marquis  de  la  Maisonfort, 
French  ambassador  to  the  Tuscan  court,  a  gentle- 
man whom  he  had  often  reason  to  thank,  espe- 
cially in  his  official  relationship.  The  intervals  of 
time  which  he  could  spare  between  his  sojourn 
at  Naples  and  that  at  Florence,  lasting  altogether 
from  December,  1820,  to  August,  1828,3  Lamar- 

2  Gius.  Massari  in  Fanfulla  della  Domenica,  14  Genn., 
1883. 

3  Cf.  G.  Lanson,  Les  Meditations  de  Lamartiney  ii, 
p.  416,  note. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE         93 

tine  spent  at  Milly,  whence  he  paid  a  visit  to 
England  in  order  to  get  acquainted  with  his 
wife's  relatives.  But  he  was  continually  longing 
for  the  Italian  climate  and  the  Italian  sky.  He 
wrote  at  this  time: 

Ah  !  qui  m'importera  sur  les  tiedes  rivages 

Oft  FArne  couronne*  de  ses  pales  ombrages 

Aux  murs  des  M6dicis  en  sa  course  arrets, 

R6fl6chit  les  palais  par  la  Muse  habitus 

Et  semble  au  bruit  flatteur  de  son  onde  plus  lente 

Murmurer  les  grands  noms  de  P6trarque  et  de  Dante.4 

From  M&con,  on  February  5,  1822,  he  wrote 
to  de  Virieu,  then  at  Turin,  asking  him  to  send 
him  the  ode  composed  by  Manzoni  on  the  death 
of  Napoleon.  His  friend  forwarded  to  him,  along 
with  it,  the  tragedy  Adelchi,  and  this  is  the  judg- 
ment that  Lamartine  pronounced  on  Manzoni's 
two  works: 

Je  te  remercie  de  tes  deux  envois  po6tiques:  J'ai 
ete*  bien  plus  content  que  je  ne  m'y  attendais  de  Pode 
de  Manzoni:  je  fais  peu  de  cas  de  sa  trag^die,  son  ode 
est  parfaite.  II  n'y  manque  rien  de  tout  ce  qui  est 
pens£e,  style,  et  sentiment;  il  n'y  manque  qu'une 
plume  plus  riche  et  plus  £clatante  en  po£sie.  Car, 
remarque  une  chose,  c'est  qu'elle  est  aussi  belle  en 
prose,  et,  peut-£tre  plus.  Mais  n'importe,  je  voudrais 
Pavoir  faite.  J'y  avais  souvent  pens6,  et  puis  le  temps 
present  m'en  a  empeche\6 

4  Corr.,  ii,  177. 

5  Corr.,  ii,  192. 


94  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

But  the  idea  which  had  come  to  him  before, 
he  put  later  on  into  practice  and,  following  Man- 
zoni's  footsteps,  he  wrote  the  Meditation  entitled 
Bonaparte,  which,  if  it  does  not  surpass,  equals 
at  least  the  Cinque  Maggio.  In  his  comment  he 
makes  no  mention  of  the  model  which  he  imi- 
tated; but  in  a  letter  to  de  Virieu,  dated  June 
22,  1824,  Lamartine  confesses  his  indebtedness 
to  Manzoni. 

It  was  fortunate  for  Lamartine  that  he  wrote 
his  ode  as  late  as  1823  (as  may  be  seen  from  the 
manuscript,  though  in  the  commentary  he  pre- 
tends to  have  written  it  in  1821),  because,  as 
L6on  Seche  puts  it,  "S'il  Pavait  composed  sous 
Pimpression  fraiche  et  immediate  de  celle  de 
Manzoni,  il  lui  aurait  sans  doute  emprunte 
davantage." 6  As  it  is,  his  borrowings  from 
Manzoni  in  this  ode  are  quite  limited,  as  may 
be  seen  from  the  following  comparison: 

Lamakttne  Manzoni 

Jamais  d'aucun  mortel  le  . .  .  Ne    sa    quando    una 

pied  qu'un  souffle  efface         simile 

N'imprima   sur    la    terre  Orma  di  pi&  mortale 

une  aussi  forte  trace,  La  sua  cruenta  polvere 

Et  ce  pied  s'est  arrete  la  !  A  calpestar  verra. 

(3d  stanza)  (1st  stanza) 

6  S6ch6,  Lamartine }  p.  172. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE 


95 


. .  Et  que  ton  nom  jouet  . . .  Quando,  con  vece  assi- 
gn eternel  orage  . . .  dua, 

(26th  stanza)  Cadde,  risorse  e  giacque. . . . 
(2d  stanza) 


Ne  crains  pas,  cependant, 
ombre  encore  inquire, 

Que  je  vienne  outrager  ta 
majeste  muette, 

Non,  la  lyre  au  tombeau 
n'a  jamais  insulte. 

(5th  stanza) 


Ce  siecle  dont  P6cume  en- 

trainait  dans  sa  course 
Les  mceurs,  les   rois,  les 

dieux  . . .  ref oule*  vers  sa 

source 
Recula  d'un  pas  devant 

toi. 

(7th  stanza) 

Ainsi  dans  les  acc&s  d'un 

impuissant  de*lire 
Quand  un  siecle  vieilli  de 

ses  mains  se  dechire 
En  jetant  dans  ses  fers 

un  cri  de  liberty 
Un  h6ros  tout  a  coup  de  la 

poudre  se  leve, 
Le  frappe  avec  un  sceptre 

. . .  il  s'eVeille,  et  le  reve 
Tombe  devant  la  vente\ 
(9th  stanza) 


. . .  Vergin    di    servo    en- 

comiOy 
E  di  codardo  oltraggiOj 
Sorge    or    commosso 

subito 
Sparir  di  tanto  raggio 
E    scioglie  air  urna 

cantico 
Che  forse  non  morra. 

(2d  stanza) 


al 


un 


Ei  si  nom6:  Due  secoli 
1/  un  contro   Y  altro   ar- 

mato, 
Sommessi  a  lui  si  volsero 
Come  aspettando  il  fato; 
Ei  fe  silenzio,  ed  arbitro 
SJ  assise  in  mezzo  a  lor  ! 
(5th  stanza) 

Oh  !  quante  volte  al  tacito 
Morir  d'un  giorno  inerte, 
Chinati  i  rai  fulminei, 
Le  braccia  al  sen  conserte, 
Stette,  e  dei  di  che  furono 
L'assalse  il  sowenir ! 
E  ripensd,  le  mobili 
Tende,  e  i  percossi  valli, 
E  il  lampo  de'  manipoli, 
E  Fonda  de?  cavaUi, 
E  il  concitato  imperio 
E  il  celere  ubbidir. 

(7th  stanza) 


96 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 


Oh !  qui  m'aurait  donne* 

d'y  sonder  ta  pensee, 
Lorsque  le  souvenir  de  ta 

grandeur  passe*e 
Venait,    comme    un    re- 

mords,    t'assaillir    loin 

du  bruit, 
Et  que,  les  bras  crois£s  sur 

ta  large  poitrine, 
Sur  ton  front  chauve  et 

nu,  que  la  pens6e  incline, 
L'horreur  passait  comme 

la  nuit ! . . . 


On    dit,    qu'aux   derniers 

jours  de  sa  longue  ago- 

nie 
Devant     l'e'ternit^,     seul 

avec  son  ge*nie, 
Son    regard   vers   le   ciel 

parut  se  soulever, 
Le  signe  r£dempteur  tou- 

cha  son  front  farouche, 
Et  meme  on  entendit  com- 

mencer  sur  sa  bouche 
Un  nom  qu'il  n'osait  ache- 

ver. 


Acbeve !  c'est  le  Dieu  qui 

regne  el  qui  couronne, 
C'est  le  Dieu  qui  punit; 

c'est  le  Dieu  qui  par- 

donne; 
Pour  les  heYos  et  nous  il 

a  des  poids  divers. 


Bella  Immortal !  benefica 
Fede  ai  trionfi  awezza ! 
Scrivi  ancor  questo,  alle- 

grati; 
Che,  piu  superba  altezza 
Al  disonor  del  Golgota 
Giammai  non  si  chind. 
Tu,  dalle  stanche  ceneri 
Sperdi  ogni  ria  parola: 
II  Dio  che  atterra  e  sus- 

cita, 
Che  affanna  e  che  consola, 
Sulla  deserta  coltrice 
Accanto  a  lui  poso. 

(9th  stanza) 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE         97 

Parle-lui    sans   effroi-  lui 

seul  peuttecomprendre. 
L'esclave  et  le  tyran  ont 

tous  un  compte  a  ren- 

dre, 
L'un  du  sceptre,   Tautre 

des  fers. 


Son    cercueil    est    ferine": 

Dieu  Pa  juge\  Silence  ! 
Son  crime  et  ses  exploits 

pesent  dans  sa  balance: 
Que   des   faibles   mortels 

les  mains  n'y  touchent 

plus! 

About  this  time,  and  "pour  se  desennuyer," 
he  wrote  the  fifth  Canto  of  Childe  Harold,  of 
which  we  shall  have  to  speak  later  on.  He  also 
composed  and  published  the  Chant  du  sacre,  for 
which  Charles  X  granted  him  the  cross  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor. 

During  this  absence  from  Italy  the  poet  had 
the  sorrow  of  losing  his  child  Alphonse;  but  in 
May,  1822,  Mme  de  Lamartine  gave  birth  to 
the  little  girl  —  later  accounted  a  prodigy  of 
beauty,  grace  and  intelligence — whom  the  poet 
named  Julia,  in  memory  of  his  early  passion  for 
Julie  des  Herettes. 

In  1825,  the  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  the 
Duke  of  Montmorency,  appointed  Lamartine  to 


98  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

the  office  of  second  secretary  to  the  embassy  at 
Florence,  where  M.  de  la  Maisonfort  was  still 
ambassador. 

The  poet  departed  for  Italy,  once  more,  in  the 
early  days  of  October,  1825. 


PART    THIRD 
CHAPTER  I 

MEETING    WITH    DELPHINE    GAY  —  VALLOMBROSA 
ANTOIR     AND    JOCELYN 

On  his  arrival  at  Florence,  Lamartine's  health 
was  not  in  the  best  condition,  while  that  of  his 
wife  had  been  considerably  impaired  by  the 
death  of  their  little  boy.  They  both  trusted  in 
the  Florentine  air  to  restore  them  to  health. 
Tuscany  is  like  the  garden  of  Italy,  and  Florence 
is,  as  Lamartine  calls  it,  "PAthenes  du  moyen 
age."  The  city  of  art  and  poetry  was  also  the 
residence  of  a  very  elegant  court,  and  of  a  refined 
and  cultivated  aristocracy.  Very  promptly  La- 
martine was  accorded  the  favors  of  the  court, 
where  his  fame  as  a  great  poet  had  preceded 
him.  The  grand-duke  manifested  toward  him 
the  most  cordial  sympathy,  which  it  did  not 
take  long  to  change  into  veritable  friendship. 

We  have  already  indicated  the  manner  in 
which,  as  Lamartine  himself  tells  us,  he  became 
acquainted  with  several  celebrated  persons.  We 
must   now    speak    of   another  similar  meeting, 


100  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

concerning  which  Gustave  Planche  has  indulged 
his  caustic  irony. 

One  day  our  poet  was  travelling  from  Florence 
to  Rome.  The  mail-coach  had  stopped  at  Terni 
in  order  to  change  horses,  when  the  landlord  of 
the  hotel  where  the  poet  had  alighted  told  him 
that  two  ladies,  an  elderly  woman  and  a  young 
girl,  had  asked  about  him,  and  then  had  pro- 
ceeded toward  the  waterfall.  Without  a  mo- 
ment's delay  Lamartine  took  the  same  road,  and 
suddenly  found  himself  in  the  presence  of  the 
most  marvellous  human  creature  he  had  ever 
seen,  shining  with  youth  and  beauty,  and  ren- 
dered still  more  fascinating  by  the  magnificent 
framework  formed  by  the  picturesque  nature  of 
the  spot,  the  heavenly  clearness  of  the  sky  and 
the  rainbow-tinted  waters  of  the  falls. 

Thus  for  the  first  time  Lamartine  saw  Del- 
phine  Gay,  the  splendid  young  woman  who 
then  and  there  began  to  exercise  over  him  so 
profound  an  influence.  Not  only  was  she  en- 
dowed with  great  beauty  but  with  a  rare  poetical 
intelligence  as  well,  so  that  Lamartine  compares 
her  to  Vittoria  Colonna.1  The  old  lady  with  her 
was  her  mother,  and  Lamartine,  fascinated  by 

1  Later  Delphine  Gay  became  Mme  de  Girardin,  hav- 
ing married  the  famous  author  and  statesman,  Emile  de 
Girardin. 


ON  ALPHONSE  OE  JiAMARlINE       101 

the  picture  thus  presented  before  him,  remained 
for  a  while  in  silent  contemplation,  himself  un- 
seen, before  he  spoke  to  the  ladies.  From  that 
day  the  most  amicable  relationship  was  estab- 
lished between  them.  To  the  malicious  insinua- 
tions which  were  made  later  on  as  to  the  purity 
of  his  friendship  for  Delphine  Gay,  Lamartine 
answered:  "Je  n'ai  jamais  vu  la  femme  en  Del- 
fine  Gay,  parce  que  a  Terni  j'ai  vu  en  elle  la 
deesse."  2 

Concerning  this  meeting  C.  de  Mazade  adds  a 
detail  as  strange  as  it  is  gratuitous.  He  says 
that  Delphine  Gay  brought  to  Lamartine  the 
news  of  the  curiosity  and  the  admiration  of  which 
he  was  the  object  in  Paris,  as  the  author  of  the 
Meditations.  The  meeting  occurred  in  1825  and 
the  volume  had  already  appeared  in  1820! 
Furthermore  we  know  that  Lamartine  owed  his 
very  place  in  the  embassy  at  Naples  to  the 
favor  that  the  success  of  the  volume  had  pro- 
cured him ! 

In  Florence  the  poet  and  his  family  occupied 
an  isolated  house  —  an  "  hotel ' '  —  in  Borgo 
Ognissanti.  It  was  surrounded  by  a  garden  and 
looked  out  upon  the  immense  park  of  the  Villa 
Torrigiani.  A  little  apartment  had  been  re- 
served for  Aymon  de  Virieu,  who  was  expected 
2  Cours  familier  de  litt.,  entr.  n,  p.  112. 


102  THE  tetfW$&€$l  OF  ITALY 

to  arrive  before  long  in  order  to  recover  his 
health,  which  had  failed  him.  It  is  but  natural 
that  Lamartine  should  have  numerous  friends 
among  the  select  society  of  Florence.  We 
notice  in  particular  his  relationship  with  Gino 
Capponi  whom  he  had  already  met  in  Paris  as 
an  exile,  and  with  whom  he  now  renewed  ac- 
quaintance. There  was  also  a  numerous  and 
choice  French  elite  which  used  to  meet  frequently 
at  the  palace  of  Princess  Aldobrandini.  They 
formed  "a  Parisian  cercle,  under  a  better  sky," 
according  to  Lamartine's  own  expression.3 

The  days  at  Florence,  like  the  former  ones  at 
Ischia,  were  pleasant  for  our  poet.  He  enjoyed 
all  the  comforts  of  life  and  all  the  satisfactions  of 
worthy  pride  and  self-esteem.  He  had  brought 
with  him  his  saddle-horses  and  driving-horses, 
and  was  surrounded  by  kind  friends.  Moreover 
his  liberality  and  high  position  had  given  him 
the  means  of  doing  a  good  deed  by  employing 
an  ancient  emigre  named  Antoir,  who,  having 
obtained  a  position  in  the  office  of  the  embassy 
through  Lamartine's  influence,  was  enabled  to 
marry  a  woman  whom  he  had  loved  for  many 
years.  This  Antoir  had  a  noble  and  cultivated 
mind,  and  knew  every  stone  of  Florence  and  its 
environs.  In  a  short  time  he  had  become  the 
3  Corr.,  ii,  316. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE       103 

poet's  intimate  friend,  and  together  they  visited 
the  abbey  of  Vallombrosa,  where  they  spent 
several  days  enjoying  the  hospitality  of  the 
monks. 

Ces  journeys  [writes  Lamartine]  passees  au-dessus 
de  V  horizon  des  agitations  terrestres,  en  compagnie 
d'un  homme  ne*  philosophe,  dans  la  confidence  de  ces 
arbres,  de  ces  murs,  de  ces  eaux,  de  ces  deserts  bour- 
donnants  de  vegetation,  de  sources,  de  vol  d'insectes, 
de  rayons  et  d'ombres,  me  laisserent  une  longue  et 
forte  impression  de  recueillement  et  de  rafraichisse- 
ment  dans  Tame.4 

He  reproduced  his  deep  impression  in  the 
twelfth  of  the  Harmonies,  entitled  UAbbaye  de 
Vallombrose,  in  which  he  exalts  the  life  of  prayer 
and  meditation  of  those  hermits: 

.  .  .  Ce  furent  ces  forets,  ces  ten&bres,  cette  onde, 
Et  ces  arbres  sans  date,  et  ces  rocs  immortels, 
Et  cet  instinct  sacr6,  qui  cherche  un  nouveau  monde 
Loin  des  sentiers  battus  que  foulent  les  mortels. 

Sans  doute  il  t'ensegnaient  ce  sublime  langage 
Que  parle  la  nature  au  cceur  des  malheureux; 
Tu  comprenais  les  vents,  le  tonnerre  et  Forage 
Comme  les  elements  se  comprennent  entre  eux. 

The  impressions  received  by  Lamartine  from 
this  visit  at  Vallombrosa  did  not  soon  vanish, 
but  were  still  vivid  in  his  heart  and  mind  ten 
years  later  when  he  was  writing  his  immortal 

4  Harmonies  poet  et  rel.     (Comment.,  xne  Harmonie.) 


104  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

poem  of  Jocelyn,  in  which  Italian  characters  and 
scenery  have  so  large  a  part.  He  made  par- 
ticular use  of  them  when  describing  "les  sites  de 
Valneige."  Nor  was  Antoir  forgotten.  The  poet 
himself  informs  us  that  "la  figure  de  M.  Antoir 
se  trouve  aussi  dans  celle  de  ce  pauvre  pretre."  5 
How  surprised  must  Lamartine  have  been  when, 
in  spite  of  all  this  and  in  spite  of  his  devotion  to 
the  Catholic  faith,  his  Jocelyn  was  placed  on 
the  Index  Expurgatorius  on  September  22,  1836, 
every  good  Roman  Catholic  being  thus  forbidden 
to  read  the  poem  on  pain  of  suffering  the  wrath 

of  his  Church  ! 

5  Ibid. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE     FIFTH     CANTO    OF    CHILDE   HAROLD    GIUSEPPE 
GIUSTI  —  DUEL  WITH   GABRIELE   PEPE 

If  Lamartine  had  many  friends  and  admirers 
who  welcomed  him  back  to  Florence,  very  soon 
on  the  other  hand  many  of  the  patriotic  Italians 
were  turned  against  him.  The  publication  of  the 
Fifth  Canto  of  Childe  Harold,  as  already  noticed, 
preceded  the  arrival  of  Lamartine  in  Italy,  and 
when  his  verses  had  time  to  become  better  known 
to  the  Italians,  those  who  aspired  to  the  inde- 
pendence of  their  country  became  indignant 
against  him,  and  with  sufficient  reason.  Lamar- 
tine, pretending  to  impersonate  Lord  Byron  him- 
self, puts  in  the  mouth  of  Harold  one  of  the 
most  cruel  invectives  against  Italy  that  could 
possibly  have  been  devised.  He  tried  afterwards 
to  justify  himself  by  saying  that  he  had  intended 
to  manifest  Byron's  feelings  and  not  his  own, 
but  every  one  knows  that  the  English  poet  who 
gave  his  life  for  the  liberation  of  Greece,  was 
equally  enthusiastic  for  the  freedom  of  Italy, 
and  could  never  have  fathered  words  such  as 
these: 


106  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

O  terre  du  passe*,  que  faire  en  tes  collines? 
Quand  on  a  mesure*  tes  arcs  et  tes  mines, 
Et  fouille  quelques  noms  dans  Purne  de  la  mort, 
On  se  retourne  en  vain  vers  les  vivants:  tout  dort . . . 

A  la  place  du  fer,  ce  sceptre  des  Romains, 

La  lyre  et  le  pinceau  chargent  tes  faibles  mains; 

Monument  Reroute,  que  l'6cho  seul  habite, 
Poussiere  du  pass6,  qu'un  vent  sterile  agite, 
Terre  ou  les  fils  n'ont  plus  le  sang  de  leurs  aieux, 
Ou  sur  un  sol  vieilli  les  hommes  naissent  vieux, 

Je  vais  chercher  ailleurs  (pardonne,  ombre  romaine,) 
Des  hommes,  et  non  pas  de  la  poussiere  humaine ! 

A  short  time  afterwards  Lamartine  published  a 
pamphlet,  Sur  V interpretation  oVun  passage  du 
cinquieme  chant  de  Childe  Harold,1  in  which  he 
tries  to  exonerate  himself  in  the  manner  already- 
described.    He  says: 

Cette  imprecation  renferme  ce  que  renferme  toute 
imprecation,  c'est  a  dire  tout  ce  que  Timagination  du'n 
poete,  quand  il  rencontre  un  pareil  sujet,  peut  lui  ford- 
nir  de  plus  fort,  de  plus  general,  de  plus  exager6,  ue 
plus  vague,  contre  la  chose  ou  le  pays  sur  lesquesl 
s'exerce  la  fureur  poetique  de  son  heros. 

Continuing,  he  explains  that  the  Italians  are 
greatly  mistaken  if  they  attribute  to  him  senti- 
ments that  are  entirely  contrary  to  his  own.     He 

1  Lucque,  chez  Francois  Baron,  1826,  p.  18. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE        107 

declares  himself  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  Italy, 
adding  that  in  all  his  preceding  works  if  he  has 
shown  a  predilection  for  any  particular  country, 
surely  that  country  is  Italy.  He  quotes  some  of 
his  verses,  like  those  in  the  eighth  Meditation, 
where  his  enthusiasm  for  Italy  is  evident: 

Delicieux  vallons,  ou  passa  tour  h  tour 
Tout  ce  qui  fut  grand  dans  le  monde  ! 


Oui,  dans  ton  sein  P&me  agrandie, 

Croit  sur  tes  monuments  respirer  ton  genie,  etc. 

We  may  be  quite  sure  that  he  had  not  the  least 
intention  of  insulting  Italy  in  any  way  in  the 
famous  passage  of  Childe  Harold.  He  wrote 
those  verses,  as  he  did  many  other  things,  with- 
out weighing  his  action.  But  the  indignation  of 
the  Italians  was  intense,  and  had  it  not  been  for 
the  severity  of  the  censorship,  which  suppressed 
everything  that  it  was  feared  would  offend  the 
French  government,  a  whole  volume  could  have 
been  made  out  of  all  that  was  written  in  rebuttal. 
As  late  as  1841  Giuseppe  Giusti  published  his 
famous  poem  La  terra  dei  morti,  a  fierce  and 
biting  satire,  directed  not  only  against  what 
Lamartine  had  written,  but,  as  Giusti  himself 
says,  "  against  all  the  insults  of  foreigners/ ' 

Yet  notwithstanding  the  vigilance  of  the  cen- 
sors, the  strongest  and  most  emphatic  reply  es- 


108  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

caped  their  vigilance  and  appeared  in  print.  The 
author  of  it  was  Gabriele  Pepe,  an  exiled  Nea- 
politan patriot,  of  whom  D'Ancona  writes:  "The 
poor  exile  was  struggling  for  a  bare  living,  eating 
only  once  a  day,  doing  his  own  washing,  but 
having  all  the  sincerity  of  a  hero,  and  as  such 
being  celebrated  by  all  his  fellow-countrymen 
and  fellow-exiles,  who  exulted  on  account  of  his 
noble  conduct." 2 

Gabriele  Pepe,  who,  as  an  ardent  carbonaro, 
had  taken  part  in  the  insurrectionary  move- 
ments of  his  native  Naples,  eluded  the  vigilance 
of  the  police  by  inserting  his  reply  to  Lamartine 
in  a  pamphlet  (of  23  pages)  entitled,  On  the  real 
meaning  of  Dante's  line: 

"Poscia  piu  che  il  dolor  pote  il  digiuno" 

by  G.  Pepe,  formerly  colonel  of  the  Neapolitan 
army} 

Blaming  the  opinion  of  many  critics  who 
understand  that  Count  Ugolino,  led  by  hunger, 
fed  on  the  flesh  of  his  own  children,  Pepe  added 
these  words:  "Among  those  who  show  so  little 
understanding  is  that  rhymer  of  Childe  Harold 
who  endeavors  to  supply  his  lack  of  inspiration 
with  sarcasms  against  Italy  that  might  be  called 

2  In  Rassegna  bibliogr.  delta  Lett.  ItaL,  v,  70. 

3  Firenze,  presso  Giuseppe  Molini,  1826. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE       109 

insults,  if  it  were  not  (as  Diomedes  says)  that  the 
blows  of  cowards  and  of  impotents  cannot  pro- 
duce a  wound." 

A  few  days  after  the  publication  of  the  pam- 
phlet Lamartine  wrote  to  Pepe,  asking  him 
whether  the  verse  of  Homer  he  had  quoted  was 
addressed  to  his  poetry  or  to  his  own  person.4 
Pepe  having  refused  to  give  any  explanation, 
Lamartine  was  compelled  to  ask  for  a  reparation 
with  arms,  and  accordingly  a  duel  was  arranged 
for.  But  Lamartine  had  been  hurt  by  a  kick  of 
his  horse  a  few  days  before  and  was  limping,  so 
the  Neapolitan  colonel  refused  to  fight  until  his 
opponent  should  be  perfectly  well,  not  wishing 
to  have  any  advantage  over  him.5  The  difficulty 
now  was  to  make  the  arrangements  in  great 
secrecy  and  to  find  seconds,  as  the  laws  of  Tus- 
cany were  very  severe  against  duelling.  Pepe, 
being  an  exile,  had  much  more  difficulty  on  this 
account.  Furthermore  the  police  had  some  sus- 
picion of  what  was  going  on,  and  on  the  evening 
of  the  eighteenth  Pepe  was  notified  to  present 
himself  before  the  chief  of  police  the  next  morn- 
ing.    Without  a  moments'  hesitation  the  colonel 

4  The  "brouillon"  of  this  letter  is  contained  in  MS.  4 
of  the  Biblioth&que  Nationale  and  has  been  published  by 
Des  Cognets  {La  Vie  interieure  de  Lamartine,  p.  145,  note). 

6  Corr.f  ii,  323. 


110  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

went  straight  to  Lamartine,  who  had  completely 
recovered,  and  they  arranged  that  the  duel  should 
take  place  the  next  morning  before  11  o'clock. 
He  also  told  Lamartine  about  his  difficulty  in 
finding  a  second,  as  he  did  not  wish  to  compro- 
mise any  of  his  friends,  who  were  exiles  like  him- 
self. With  exquisite  courtesy  he  insisted  that 
Lamartine's  second  should  also  be  his  own,  but 
to  this  the  poet  would  not  consent  absolutely. 
So  Lamartine  provided  for  Pepe  another  of 
his  friends,  Count  de  Villamilla  —  "Americain 
Espagnol,"  says  Lamartine — whom  Pepe  saw 
then  for  the  first  time,  while  Lamartine's  second 
was  Aymon  de  Virieu.6 

The  duel  was  fought  on  February  19,  1826, 
outside  of  San  Frediano  Gate,  and  not  in  the 
garden  of  the  French  legation,  as  Nencioni  erro- 
neously affirms.  The  two  seconds  had  pistols, 
and  two  swords  of  unequal  length.  It  had  been 
decided  that  lots  should  be  cast  as  to  who  should 
have  the  longer  weapon,  but  Pepe,  without  a 
moment's  waiting,  seized  the  shorter  one  and 
fell  in  guard.  After  a  fight  of  a  few  minutes  the 
poet  received  a  wound  in  his  right  arm,  and 
Pepe,  having  asked  him  if  he  felt  satisfied,  on 
the  affirmative  immediately  ran  towards  him  and 
bound  the  wound  with  his  own  handkerchief. 
6  Corr.,  ii,  321-327. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE       111 

Lamartine  also  had  shown  himself  a  perfect  gen- 
tleman and  a  generous  adversary.  During  the 
fight  he  always  kept  on  the  defensive,  never 
attacking  his  adversary,  "dont  la  bravoure,  la 
loyaute  et  la  delicatesse  ne  laissent  rien  a  d£sirer 
aux  Italiens  dont  il  6tait  en  quelque  sort  le 
champion."  7 

Lamartine  also  caused  an  article  to  be  inserted 
in  VEtoile,  a  newspaper  edited  by  De  Genoude, 
in  which  he  reported  scrupulously  all  the  facts 
as  they  had  happened,  using  words  of  high  praise 
and  admiration  for  the  champion  of  Italy. 

From  that  day  on,  a  real  friendship  was  estab- 
lished between  the  two,  and  a  few  days  later 
Count  de  Villamilla  gave  a  dinner  at  which  La- 
martine and  Pepe  were  present,  the  latter  having 
the  seat  of  honor.  The  exquisite  delicacy  of  our 
poet  was  shown  further  in  this:  Wishing  to 
relieve  the  noble  exile's  distress  without  wound- 
ing his  pride,  he  begged  him  to  become  teacher 
of  Italian  to  his  little  Julia.8 

It  will  not  be  necessary  for  us  to  relate  at 
length  all  the  steps  that  were  taken  in  order  that 

7  Corr.,  ii,  327. 

8  Cf.  Des  Cognets,  La  Vie  interieure  de  Lamartine, 
p.  150.  —  Furthermore  the  Marquis  de  la  Maisonfort 
went  so  far  as  to  send  his  carriage  to  Pepe  while  offering 
him  the  shelter  of  his  own  house  as  a  place  of  protection 
in  case  of  necessity. 


112  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

the  ducal  government  should  not  invoke  the  law 
against  the  participants  in  the  duel,  and  espe- 
cially against  Pepe;  it  is  enough  to  say  that  the 
duke  himself  gave  orders  that  the  duel  should  be 
considered  "as  having  never  happened"  !9 

Thus,  by  a  humorous  and  genial  device  all 
further  trouble  was  eliminated,  to  the  gratifica- 
tion of  all  the  parties  concerned;  and  the  dreams 
of  the  grand-duke  were  no  further  disturbed  by 
fears  of  possible  complications. 

9  Nencioni  in  Nuova  Antologia. 


CHAPTER  III 

LA  PERTE  DE  UANIO LAMARTINE    AND    THE 

PRINCESS  ALDOBRANDINI 

It  seemed  to  Lamartine  that  he  had  not  given 
as  yet  full  satisfaction  to  the  Italians.  Very  soon 
an  event  of  geological  nature  furnished  him  the 
occasion  to  manifest  his  love  and  admiration  for 
Italy.  In  1827  a  sliding  of  the  soil  impaired  the 
magnificent  waterfall  of  the  Aniene  near  Tivoli, 
and  broke  it  into  several  small  streams,  thus 
ruining  its  majestic  greatness.  The  consequences 
seemed  at  the  time  to  be  much  worse  than  they 
really  were,  for  nature,  as  time  went  on,  to  a 
large  extent  remedied  the  damage  done.  Lamar- 
tine, taking  his  inspiration  from  this  event,  wrote 
quite  a  lengthy  poem  entitled,  La  Perte  de  VAnio, 
which  was  published  for  the  first  time  in  the 
Antologia  issued  in  March  of  that  year.  He  thus 
addresses  Italy: 

Italie !  Italie !  ah  !  pleure  tes  collines 

Ou  Thistoire  du  monde  est  6crite  en  mines  ! 

Source  des  nations,  reine  mere  commune, 

Tu  n'es  pas  seulement  chere  aux  nobles  enfants 

Que  ta  verte  vieillesse  a  ported  dans  ses  flancs; 


114  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

De  tes  ennemis  m£me  envie"e  et  cherie, 

De  tout  ce  qui  natt  grand  ton  ombre  est  la  patrie ! 

Et  Pesprit  inquiet  qui  dans  Pantiquite* 

Remonte  vers  la  gloire  et  vers  la  liberte, 

Et  Pesprit  resigne*  qu'un  jour  plus  pur  inonde, 

Qui  d6daignant  ces  dieux  qu'adore  en  vain  le  monde, 

Plus  loin,  plus  haut  encore,  cherche  un  unique  h6tel 

Pour  le  Dieu  veritable,  unique,  universel, 

Le  cceur  plein  tous  les  deux  d'une  tendresse  amere, 

T'adorent  dans  la  poudre,  et  te  disent  ma  mSre. 

Lamartine  thought  highly  of  his  own  verses 
in  general,  and  of  these  in  particular.  As  soon  as 
composed,  he  sent  them  to  de  Virieu,  giving  him 
charge  to  copy  them  and  to  send  them  to  Lamar- 
tine's  old  father. 

He  accompanied  them  with  a  letter,  which 
said  : 

"  Caro  amico,  voici  deux  cents  vers  qui  me  semblent 
bons  sur  P  6  vehement  qui  vient  de  ruiner  Tivoli  et 
d'aneantir  les  cascatelles.  C^tait  une  heureuse  oc- 
casion pour  moi  de  faire  quelques  vers  flatteurs  en 
reparation  a  PItalie  qui  me  traite  comply tement  bien 
a  present."1 

He  wrote  this  in  January,  1827,  but  the  poem 
had  not  the  fortune  to  please  his  friend,  and  on 
February  13  the  poet,  sorrowful  and  surprised, 
wrote  to  him  thus: 

Je  suis  confondu  que  tu  ne  trouves  pas  mes  vers 
sur  Tivoli  a  ton  plein  gre\    Je  trouve  que  c'est  le  seul 

1  Corr.}  in,  2. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE       115 

morceau  par  lequel  je  voudrais  hitter  avec  lord  Byron: 
Italie !   Italie  !   etc. ;  mais  on  se  trompe  sur  soi-meme.2 

Lamartine  dedicated  the  Perte  de  VAnio  to  an 
Italian  patriot,  a  Piedmontese,  the  Marquis 
Tancredi  di  Barolo,  who  was  one  of  his  friends 
and  who  had  married  a  French  lady  of  great 
beauty  and  accomplishments.3  In  his  commen- 
tary on  this  Harmonie  Lamartine  recalls  the 
event  of  a  year  before  and  says:  "J'ecrivis 
ces  vers  avec  le  coeur  d'un  Italien;  et  comme 
j'avais  contrist6,  un  ou  deux  ans  avant,  cette 
terre,  je  profitai  avec  empressement  de  cette 
circonstance  pour  me  r^concilier  avec  elle.,, 

How  well  he  succeeded  in  his  aim  is  shown 
by  a  critical  recension  of  the  Harmonies  poetiques 
et  religieuses  which  appeared  in  the  Nuovo  gior- 
nale  del  letterati  then  published  at  Pisa. 

Words  of  enthusiastic  admiration  are  used  in 

2  Corr.,  in,  8. 

3  Lamartine  greatly  admired  and  respected  this  lady, 
who  made  him  think  of  the  Virgin  Mary.  Looking  at  her 
he  says:  "Je  n'ai  jamais  si  bien  compris  F  aureole  que  la 
pi6t6  fait  rayonner  autour  de  la  figure  des  vierges,  des 
anges  ou  des  saintes,"  and  he  explains  that  "Cette  image 
m'inspira"  when  he  wrote  the  xxv  of  the  Nouvelles  Medi- 
tations, which  is  a  beautiful  hymn  of  praise  and  prayer  to 
Jehovah.  After  her  husband's  death  she  consecrated  her 
life  to  works  of  charity,  aided  in  this  by  the  patriot  Silvio 
Pellico,  to  whom  she  gave  hospitality  until  the  end  of  his 
life.    (Cf.  comment,    xxv6,  Nouv.  MM.) 


116  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

describing  the  volume,  and  Lamartine  is  com- 
pared to  Homer  and  Columbus ! 

Happy  Alphonse  de  Lamartine,  who  may  be  con- 
sidered as  one  of  those  privileged  beings  who  are  so 
rarely  found  !  Few  literary  men  have  been  as  univer- 
sally honored  as  he  in  their  own  century;  few  literary 
men  have  had  their  name  become  famous  in  every 
part  of  Europe  as  rapidly  as  his  name ! 4 

Concerning  La  perte  de  VAnio  the  following 
pronouncement  was  made: 

This  Armonia  must  excite  in  the  breast  of  Italian 
readers  the  greatest  interest,  not  only  because  it  recalls 
to  our  memory  the  celebrated  verses  of  Horace,  but 
because  this  poet  (imitating  the  example  of  his  great 
predecessor  who,  having  insulted  Gratidia,  sang  the 
Palinode  addressed  to  the  daughter  Tyndaris),  now 
converts  into  praises  the  insults  which  he  had  once 
before  vomited  against  Italy.5 

Not  long  after,  in  June,  1825,  Lamartine  wrote 
a  monograph  of  a  political  character  entitled: 

"  Que  f aut-il  entendre  en  politique  par  Texpres- 
sion*d'un  ami  ou  d'un  ennemi  naturel?  Et  quels 
sont  les  etats  de  TEurope  que  la  France  peut  ou 
doit  considerer  sous  Tun  ou  Fautre  de  ces  points 
de  vue?"7 

In  it  he  expresses  his  views  of  the  relationship 
between  Italy  and  France  in  this  wise : 

4  Nuovo  giornale,  1831,  xxn,  19. 
6  Nuovo  giornale,  1831,  xxn,  25. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE       117 

...  II  y  a  sympathie  entre  les  peuples  comme  entre 
les  individus.  Elle  existe  entre  la  France  et  Tltalie, 
elle  est  plus  forte  que  les  interets  memes:  vingt  fois  la 
France  est  descendue  en  Italie,  en  a  ravage*  les  plaines, 
saccage  les  villes,  trahi  les  6sperances,  et  Tltalie  nous 
aime  toujours. 

Lamartine  alternated  grave  political  preoccu- 
pation and  diplomatic  cares  with  agreeable 
conversations  and  intellectual  entertainments, 
especially  such  as  were  given  at  the  Aldobran- 
dini  Palace.  The  gracious  hostess  was  the 
Princess  Aldobrandini-Borghese,  to  whom  the 
poet  dedicated  one  of  his  most  inspired  and 
mystical  Harmonies,  L'hymne  du  soir  dans  les 
temples.  Another  of  that  brilliant  company 
whom  Lamartine  admired  was  Countess  Ida  de 
Bombelles,  wife  of  the  Austrian  ambassador. 
She  had  been  one  of  the  foremost  singers  of 
Europe  before  her  marriage,  and  she  possessed  a 
wonderful  tragic  talent  and  a  sculptural  beauty. 
"Sa  beaute  etait  grecque,  son  genie  italien,  sa 
voix  celeste,"  says  Lamartine.  He  dedicated  to 
her  the  Harmonie  entitled,  La  voix  humaine. 
It  was  inspired  by  her  golden  notes,  at  whose 
sound 

Le  regret  s'attendrit,  la  douleur  se  console, 
L'espSrance  descend,  Pamertume  s'envole,  etc. 

About  Princess  Aldobrandini  he  wrote:    "Elle 
avait  Timagination  grandiose  de  PItalienne  et  la 


118  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

tendresse  religieuse  d'une  jeune  mere  qui  prie 
pour  ses  enfants."  6  She,  therefore,  was  the  one 
person  whom  Lamartine  naturally  associated  with 
the  thoughts  inspired  in  him  by  the  Italian  ca- 
thedrals, so  different  from  those  of  every  other 
nation;  because,  as  he  says: 

La  cathe'drale  n'est  qu'un  vaste  sepulcre,  tout 
y  est  sombre,  tout  y  gemit,  rien  n'y  chante:  Les 
voutes  sonores  des  eglises  d'ltalie  chantent  d'elles- 
memes;  ce  sont  les  temples  de  la  resurrection  ! 7 

6  (Euvres  compl.    iv,  86. 

7  Comment,  on  the  Hymne  du  soir. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE    LITERARY    FRIENDS    OF  "  VILLA    VARRA- 
MISTA"  —  THE  COUNTESS  OF  SALUZZO 

Florence  at  this  time  was  not  only  rich  in 
the  aristocracy  of  blood  and  of  high  social  rank, 
but  the  aristocracy  of  intellect  was  not  less 
worthily  represented.  It  seemed  as  if  the  most 
cultivated  spirits  had  chosen  the  capital  of 
Tuscany  as  their  rallying-place,  and  from  Florence 
they  spread  throughout  all  Europe  the  light  of 
their  genius  in  behalf  of  literature,  of  art  and 
of  liberty.  Chief  among  them  were  Leopardi, 
Giordani,  Niccolo  Tommaseo,  Manzoni,  Nicco- 
lini,  Monti,  Pietro  Colletta.  In  his  correspond- 
ence Lamartine  makes  no  mention  of  Leopardi, 
Giordani  and  Monti,  so  that  he  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  well  acquainted  with  them.  His  great 
and  ever  remembered  friend  was  Gino  Capponi, 
the  most  perfect  type  of  the  literary  gentleman 
and  patriot.  Two  others  were  also  particularly 
dear  to  Lamartine,  the  poet  and  tragedian 
Giambattista  Niccolini,  whom  he  always  remem- 
bered with   pleasure,   and   Giuliano  Frullani,   a 


120  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

vivacious  and  versatile  genius,  naturally  inclined 
to  poetry  and  mathematics,  in  which  latter 
discipline  he  became  a  professor  when  scarcely 
twenty  years  of  age.  His  name  is  often  men- 
tioned with  affection  in  the  letters  of  Lamar- 
tine  to  Capponi,  covering  a  period  of  several 
years.  He  was  one  of  those  who  "Se  non 
fortunae  sed  hominibus  solere  esse  amicum."  x 

All  these  free  intellects  often  met  together  at 
"  Varramista,"  Capponi's  splendid  villa,  for  which 
Lamartine  often  longed  after  his  departure  from 
Florence,  and  which  he  never  fails  to  mention  in 
his  letters  to  his  Italian  friend.  On  the  white 
marble  benches  of  its  garden,  amid  the  coolness  of 
the  green  branches,  the  great  men  of  Italy  and  of 
other  countries  often  sat  discussing  the  highest 
subjects,  and  renewing  the  memories  of  the  age 
of  Leo  X,  when  Macchiavelli,  Alamanni,  Iacopo 
Nardi  and  other  such  men  used  to  meet  under 
the  secular  trees  of  the  Rucellai  gardens. 

But  if  Lamartine  was  thus  welcomed  and 
esteemed  by  the  men  of  letters,  we  must  not  fail 
to  take  account  of  a  certain  misapprehension  on 
the  part  of  some  Italians  to  whom  the  political 
and  religious  ideas  of  Lamartine  were  suspicious. 
He  expresses  their  feelings  in  one  of  his  letters 
to  the  Chevalier  de  Fontenay,  where  he  says: 
1  Cornelius  Nepos. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE       121 

"Ici  il  me  croyent  une  espece  d'intrigant,  espion, 
jesuite."    Yet  he  continues: 

Je  suis  bien  avec  ma  maison,  mes  chevaux,  et  bref 
je  suis  heureux  autant  que  mon  6tat  moral  le  comporte, 
et  je  rends  graces  a  Dieu  de  m'avoir  conserve"  la  vie, 
si  je  dois  la  passer  dans  ce  divin  pays.2 

As  the  health  of  his  wife  was  still  uncertain, 
and  as  the  Court  was  going  to  Leghorn,  Lamar- 
tine  also  availed  himself  of  the  favorable  season 
and  conducted  his  family  there,  taking  up  his  resi- 
dence in  the  "Villa  Palmieri,"  facing  the  sea,  on 
the  road  to  Montenero.  This  period,  which  he 
passed  on  the  shores  of  the  Tirreno  in  perfect 
quietness,  often  taking  long  solitary  walks,  often 
riding,  bathing  often  in  its  blue  waves,  was  one 
of  his  most  productive  from  a  poetical  point  of 
view,  because  he  composed  there  many  of  the 
Harmonies  poetiques  et  religieuses.  The  cloudless 
sky,  the  coolness  and  the  beauty  of  the  place, 
the  immensity  of  the  sea  spreading  before  him, 
full  of  the  poetry  of  fascination  and  mystery,  all 
filled  him  with  deep  emotion  and  inspiration. 
Very  often,  as  he  came  back  from  his  long  walks 
along  the  Ardenza  or  at  Montenero,  or  on  the 
solitary  road  where  stands  the  house  formerly 
occupied  by  Lord  Byron,  he  would  find  in  the 
garden  of  his  villa  the  two  grand-duchesses  con- 
2  Corr.y  ii,  337. 


122  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

versing  familiarly  with  Mme  de  Lamartine,  while 
the  children  were  playing  on  the  beach.  Thus 
the  royal  ladies  passed  entire  evenings  chatting 
with  the  poet,  as  they  had  done  once  before  at 
Weimar  with  Goethe  and  Schiller. 

The  absence  of  the  Marquis  de  la  Maisonfort 
compelled  Lamartine  to  return  to  Florence  and  to 
assume  for  some  time  the  entire  charge  of  the 
embassy.  At  this  time  the  Lamartines  enjoyed 
for  a  while  the  company  of  Delphine  Gay  and 
of  her  mother,  while  the  Court  was  at  Poggio 
Caiano. 

Worthy  of  notice  is  also  the  correspondence 
of  our  poet  with  the  Countess  Diodata  Saluzzo, 
the  Piedmontese  poetess,  who  was  called  a  new 
Sappho  and  had  been  highly  praised  by  Mme  de 
Stael,  Alfieri,  Monti,  Foscolo  and  Parini,  though 
her  writings  are  now  almost  entirely  forgotten. 
Lamartine  added  his  own  homage  to  theirs, 
in  writing  to  her  as  follows:  "La  premiere  fois 
que  je  lus  vos  touchantes  et  brillantes  poesies, 
je  sentis  quelque  chose  de  neuf  qui  rappelait 
Tantique  et  qui  cependant  ne  Pimitait  pas." 
About  her  poem  Hypathia  he  says:  "  Je  lis  votre 
beau  poeme:  c'est  un  style  perdu  en  Italie,  que 
vous  avez  retrouve." 3    He  continues,  promising 

3  Poesie  postume  di  D.  Saluzzo,  Torino,  Chirio  e  Mina, 
1843,  pp.  408,  409.   ~ 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE       123 

her  a  personal  visit  at  Turin  in  the  following 
April.  It  seems,  however,  that  this  desire  was 
never  fulfilled,  and  we  find  no  trace  whatever  in 
Lamartine's  writings  of  any  further  intercourse 
between  them. 


CHAPTER  V 

LAMARTINE    AND    MANZONI  —  ANGELICA    PALLI  — 
VISIT   TO    FERRARA 

During  the  spring  of  1827  Lamartine  lost  his 
uncle,  the  "abbe"  de  Lamartine.  He  left  the 
largest  part  of  his  estates  to  his  nephew,  who  was 
then  contemplating  the  acquisition  of  a  villa  in 
the  environs  of  Fiesole.  On  the  coming  of  sum- 
mer, however,  the  poet  went  back  to  Leghorn 
with  his  family,  as  the  year  before,  and  in  July 
he  was  quite  gratified  at  receiving  from  the  grand 
duke  the  cordon  of  St.  Joseph,  an  order  of  knight- 
hood which  carried  with  it  the  advantage  of  an 
annual  pension.  During  this  year,  at  Pisa,  he 
made  the  acquaintance  of  Rosini,  the  author 
of  La  monaca  di  Monza,  which  was  written  as 
the  continuation  of  the  Promessi  Sposi  of  Man- 
zoni;  and  in  the  following  October  he  made  the 
acquaintance  of  Alessandro  Manzoni  himself. 

As  we  have  already  hinted  in  speaking  of 
Lamartine's  imitation  of  the  Cinque  Maggio, 
our  poet  had  the  greatest  admiration  for  the 
author  of  The  Betrothed.  Though  very  different 
in  temperament  and  habits,  their  profound  and 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE       125 

unshaken  religious  belief  established  between  them 
a  spiritual  kinship.  The  very  aspect  of  Manzoni 
inspired  Lamartine  with  respect  and  veneration: 

II  m'avait  int6ress6  plus  encore  par  sa  personne 
que  par  ses  ceuvres.  C'est  un  g&iie  souffrant,  un 
accent  de  douleur  incarn£  dans  un  homme  sensible, 
c'est  en  m&me  temps  un  g6nie  pieux.1 

Manzoni  at  this  time  was  in  Florence  with  his 
family,  and  was  entertained  by  Lamartine,  who 
one  evening  wrote  some  verses  for  the  album  of 
Manzoni's  daughters  upon  a  subject  they  them- 
selves had  selected.  The  subject  was  "Julia/' 
the  poet's  very  pretty  and  intelligent  little 
daughter  already  spoken  of,  who  was  his  pride 
and  happiness. 

The  same  verses  he  wrote  afterwards  under  her 
portrait,  and  they  are  repeated  in  a  letter  to  de 
Virieu  in  which  Lamartine  tells  him  how  they 
came  to  be  composed.  They  are  full  of  affection, 
and  begin  as  follows: 

Etoile  du  matin,  mon  espoir  et  ma  joie, 
L&ve-toi  dans  ta  grace  et  ta  s6r6nit6; 
Que  ton  beau  front  voile  sous  ses  boucles  de  soie 
R6pande  autour  de  nous  un  peu  de  sa  clartS.2 

During  the  same  year  the  two  poets  frequented 
together,  at  Leghorn,  the  "veglie"  at  the  home 
of  Angelica  Palli-Bartolomei,  an  " improvising" 
1  CEuvres  compl.,  iv,  270.  2  Corr.,  in,  53. 


126  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

poetess  who  had  her  day  of  celebrity.  Doctor 
Falcucci,  in  commemorating  her,  relates  that  on 
one  occasion,  the  conversation  having  fallen  upon 
the  subject  of  the  evanescence  of  things  human, 
Manzoni  concluded:  "Yes,  everything  upon 
earth  is  vanity ";  and  Lamartine:  "Oui,  tout 
ici  bas  est  vanit6,  mais  F  amour  .  .  .  Tamour  n'est 
pas  une  vanite* !"  And  he  had  good  reason  to 
affirm  this,  he  who  had  never  been  betrayed  nor 
deceived,  but  who  had  always  found  devoted 
hearts  even  unto  death,  —  constant  and  unchang- 
ing affections  like  those  of  Graziella,  Julia,  and 
his  wife,  who  was  his  loving  companion  in  the 
days  of  happiness,  his  comfort  and  help  in  the 
hours  of  sadness. 

On  another  occasion  Angelica  Palli  improvised 
some  delicate  verses  upon  the  misfortunes  of 
Sappho,  and  this  was  one  of  her  best  extempora- 
neous compositions.  Immediately  both  Manzoni 
and  Lamartine  addressed  to  her,  currente  calamo 
and  each  in  his  own  tongue,  some  verses  compar- 
ing her  to  the  poetess  of  Mitylene.  Lamartine, 
who  wrote  verses  with  the  greatest  ease,  often 
complained  that  the  rebellious  instrument  of  the 
French  tongue  did  not  permit  him  to  indulge  in 
the  "improvvisazione"  which  seems  a  privilege 
of  the  Italian.3 

3  Opere  inedite  e  rare  di  A.  Manzoni}  Milano,  1883. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE       127 

To  Manzoni  Lamartine  dedicated  his  Hymne 
au  Christ,  written  at  Macon,  in  which  he  under- 
took to  imitate  the  famous  Inni  Sacri  of  his 
friend.  About  this  poem  he  wrote  to  de  Virieu: 
"C'est  ecrit  avec  foi  et  amour/' 4  and  in  his  own 
comment  on  this  Harmonie  he  speaks  with  ven- 
eration of  Manzoni. 

In  December,  1827,  Lamartine  paid  an  official 
visit  to  the  Court  at  Modena  and  passed  several 
days  at  Parma  with  Marie  Louise,  who,  although 
she  had  reigned  in  the  midst  of  a  splendor  worthy 
of  fairy-land,  was  now  "plus  a  son  aise  dans 
ses  petits  etats  quelle  ne  Petait  dans  sa  prison 
splendide  des  Tuileries."  5 

As  time  was  passing  and  Lamartine  wished  for 
advancement  in  the  diplomatic  career,  he  began 
to  think  of  leaving  his  beloved  Florence,  though 
now  the  luxurious  life  of  the  diplomat  had  reached 
for  him  its  highest  point.  In  fact  his  recent 
inheritance  allowed  him  a  considerable  mag- 
nificence. The  elegance  and  artistic  taste  of  the 
palace  he  had  built  increased  his  prestige,  the 
Court  paid  visits  to  him,  and  the  grand-duchesses 
listened  to  him  with  the  greatest  pleasure  when- 
ever he  recited,  in  their  honor,  the  melodious 
verses  he  had  composed  during  the  hours  free  from 
diplomatic  cares.    He  tells  us  that 

4  Corr.,  in,  144.  5  Corr.,  in,  75. 


128  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

a  Fheure  ou  la  chancellerie  de  Tambassade  se  fer- 
mait,  apr&s  les  ddpeches  6crites,  je  montais  a  cheval 
sur  le  quai  de  1'Arno,  je  sortais  de  la  ville  par  une 
de  ces  belles  portes  antiques  qui  conduisent  aux  cam- 
pagnes  voisines;  j'errais  seul  entre  les  haies  de  figuiers, 
d'oliviers,  de  cypres  . . .  et  j^coutais  en  moi  les  in- 
spirations fugitives,  mais  presque  toujours  pieuses  qui 
me  montaient  de  cette  terre  au  cceur.  Le  soleil  couche* 
je  rentrais . . .  J^crivais  alors,  de  temps  en  temps, 
quelques-unes  des  inspirations  qui  m^taient  restSes 
dans  la  m^moire.6 

Thus  it  was  that  the  Italian  landscape  spoke 
to  Lamartine's  soul ! 

In  May  the  family  went  to  the  baths  of  San 
Casciano,  returning  in  July  to  Leghorn.  Finally, 
M.  de  Vitrolles  (who  had  been  appointed  as 
substitute  in  Lamartine's  place  at  the  embassy) 
having  arrived  from  France,  our  poet  abandoned 
Tuscany  and  Italy  in  1828. 

In  1838  he  saw  Italy  once  more  for  a  short 
time,  as  he  was  travelling  to  the  Orient;  and  he 
returned  again  in  1844,  when  he  visited  Venice 
for  the  first  time,  and  perhaps  Padua  also,  as  he 
had  promised  to  do  in  a  letter  to  Count  Carlo 
Leoni,  dated  Macon,  August  10,  1840.7  In  1844 
he  passed  some  time  during  the  summer  at 
Naples  and  Ischia,  always  accompanied  by  his 
wife:    there  he  wrote  Les  Confidences.     He  also 

6  Comment.  Med.  n,  1. 

7  Epigrafi  e  prose  etc.  di  C.  Leoni,  Firenze,  Barbera, 
1879,  p.  200. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE       129 

made  frequent  visits  to  Sorrento,  the  birthplace 
of  his  favorite  poet  Tasso,  "delicieuse  patrie,  Non 
du  poete  seulement,  mais  de  la  po6sie."8  In 
October  of  the  same  year  he  was  permitted,  for 
the  first  time,  to  visit  Tasso's  tomb  in  Ferrara, 
and  as  he  was  leaving  the  prison  he  improvised 
the  Meditation  entitled  F  err  are.  "J'ai  fait  200 
lieues  pour  aller  toucher  de  ma  main  les  parois  de 
la  prison  du  chantre  de  la  Jerusalem"  he  says.9 

In  1847  he  returned  once  more  to  Italy,  but 
for  a  very  short  time. 

How  many  struggles,  how  many  victories,  but 
also  how  many  sorrows  and  bitternesses  from 
1812  to  1847!  It  was  the  last  time  Italy  offered 
hospitality  to  the  man  whom  in  effect  she  may 
count  among  her  own  poets.  And,  strange  to 
say,  when  in  March  of  the  next  year  Lamartine 
was  trying  to  quell  the  popular  revolt  on  the 
Place  de  Greve  and  the  barricades  of  the  Temple, 
Gabriele  Pepe,  his  chivalrous  adversary  of  1826, 
was  performing  a  similar  task  in  Naples,  at  the 
very  same  hour,  and  was  succeeding  in  his  en- 
deavor while  the  rifles  were  pointed  at  his  breast ! 
Truly,  we  may  repeat  with  Seneca: 

Ducunt  volentem  fata,  nolentem  trahunt.10 

8  Cours  familier  de  litt.,  xvi,  p.  21. 

9  Comment,  on  the  xve  Medit.  It  was  also  on  this 
occasion  that  the  incident  related  in  Chap,  iv,  Part  I 
happened.  10  Ep.,  107. 


CHAPTER  VI 

LES  HARMONIES  POETIQUES  ET  RELIGIEUSES 

The  volume  of  Harmonies  is  to  a  large  extent 
composed  of  lyrics  which  Lamartine  wrote  while 
in  Italy;  others  were  inspired  by  the  memories 
of  his  sojourn  there.  The  edition  of  1850  has 
" comments' '  written  by  the  poet  himself,  wherein 
he  relates  the  circumstances  under  which  he 
wrote  the  poems  and  the  place  where  they  were 
composed,  and  tells  us  about  the  persons  to 
whom  they  were  dedicated.  The  idea  of  writing 
such  comments  was  a  very  unhappy  one.  It 
arose  late  in  the  poet's  mind,  when  he  had  for- 
gotten many  things.  The  reader  unfamiliar  with 
the  exact  details  of  his  life  may  thus  easily  be 
led  into  serious  errors. 

Gustave  Planche  also  deplores  that  a  poet  as 
real  and  great  as  Lamartine  should  have  written 
these  (as  he  calls  them)  "niaiseries."  In  almost 
every  case  the  dates  are  erroneous.  For  instance, 
the  poet  declares  he  has  written  such  and  such  a 
poem  in  1824  when  he  was  in  Italy,  while  from 
his  own  letters  we  know  as  a  positive  fact  that 
he  left  Naples  in  the  spring  of  1821  and  did  not 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE       131 

go  to  Florence  before  October,  1825.  Again,  the 
first  Harmonie,  entitled  Invocation,  bears  the 
date  1822,  the  Hymne  de  la  nuit  that  of  1824, 
with  the  comment  that  it  was  composed  at  the 
"  Villa  Palmier!"  at  Montenero,  whose  situation 
he  describes  very  accurately,  being  of  course  per- 
fectly familiar  with  the  place.  The  only  mistake 
is  about  the  date.  Likewise  V Hymne  du  matin 
bears  the  date  of  1822.  U Hymne  du  soir  dans  les 
temples,  dedicated  to  Princess  Aldobrandini,  bears 
no  date,  but  we  know  when  it  was  composed. 
Also  the  splendid  Poesie  an  passage  dans  le  golfe 
de  G&nes  must  not  be  ascribed  to  1824  as  the  poet 
writes.  Desir  is  inexactly  dated  1828,  but  many 
other  Harmonies  bear  dates  between  1825  and  1828 
which  may  be  quite  accurate.  We  cannot,  how- 
ever, read  without  a  smile  of  incredulity  the 
description  of  some  of  the  circumstances  of  their 
composition  as  Lamartine  relates  them  to  us. 
To  give  an  illustration :  The  poet  tells  us  that  the 
Hymne  du  matin  was  written  at  Montenero  upon 
the  white  leaves  of  a  quarto  edition  of  Petrarca. 
All  at  once  a  gust  of  wind  blew  the  pages  out 
of  his  hands  as  he  was  detaching  them,  and  they 
fell  into  the  sea  below.  Sorrowfully  the  poet 
returned  to  his  home,  but  the  following  day  a 
little  girl,  the  daughter  of  a  fisherman,  brought 
him  the  pages  which  her  father  had  found  float- 


132  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

ing  on  the  waves  just  at  the  feet  of  Cape  Mon- 
tenero.  The  fisherman  had  immediately  brought 
the  leaves  to  the  Capuchins  of  the  monastery, 
but  the  monks,  not  understanding  the  language 
in  which  they  were  written,  told  him  that  they 
probably  belonged  to  the  stranger  of  the  "  Villa 
Palmieri. ' '  Lamartine,  delighted,  recompensed  the 
young  girl  by  giving  her  as  many  dollars  (?)  as 
there  were  pages.  When  we  reflect  that  Monte- 
nero  does  not  overlook  the  sea,  but  leads  gradu- 
ally down  to  it,  and  is  separated  from  it  by  the 
road  which  follows  the  coast,  the  poetic  tale 
vanishes  into  thin  air,  remaining  only  as  a  grace- 
ful creation  of  the  poet's  mind. 

More  probable  than  this  appears  what  the 
poet  tells  us  in  the  comment  on  La  pensee  des 
morts,  which  is  a  lyric  full  of  tender  melancholy. 
It  was  suggested  to  him  one  day  as  he  was  the 
guest  of  the  Marquis  de  la  Maisonfort  at  the 
Ludovisi  villa,  near  Lucca,  at  the  sight  of  a 
rustic  nuptial  procession  which  rather  strangely 
moved  him  to  a  sense  of  profound  sadness.  He 
wrote  the  first  stanzas  to  the  sound  of  a  bagpipe 
played  by  a  blind  man,  while  the  peasants  were 
merrily  dancing ! 

But  to  determine  whether  these  are  pretty 
inventions  or  not  does  not  so  much  concern  us 
as  to  show  the  very  large  number  of  poetical 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE       133 

compositions  which  Lamartine  wrote  while  in 
Italy.  If  Naples,  Ischia  and  the  enchanted  bay- 
furnished  him  with  a  rich  source  of  inspiration, 
richer  still  flowed  his  poetical  vein  under  the 
sky  of  Tuscany,  in  the  midst  of  the  aristocratic 
elegance  of  Florence,  under  the  shadow  of  Giotto's 
Campanile  where  Michelangelo  and  Macchiavelli 
are  forever  at  rest. 

Beside  the  lyrics  mentioned  in  these  pages,  we 
must  notice  as  having  been  composed  in  Italy: 
La  sagesse,  Desir,  Eternite  de  la  nature,  Encore  un 
hymne  and  the  very  beautiful  poem  entitled, 
Pourquoi  mon  dme  est-elle  tristef  Among  his 
most  appreciated  lines  must  be  placed  also  Milly 
ou  la  terre  natale,  which  he  wrote  in  a  moment  of 
homesickness,  though  he  so  much  loved  the  land 
that  offered  him  hospitality. 

As  will  be  inferred  from  what  precedes,  it  is 
by  reading  carefully  the  correspondence  that  we 
can  determine  quite  accurately  the  date  of  a 
large  proportion  of  Lamartine's  poems.  For 
instance,  a  long  quotation  from  the  Poesie  an 
passage  dans  le  golfe  de  Genes  is  made  in  a  letter 
to  Aymon  de  Virieu,  dated  August  1,  1826,  from 
which  it  is  obvious  that  the  verses  were  com- 
posed before  that  date.  La  perte  de  VAnio  was 
written  in  January,  1827,  as  was  also  Milly. 
Desir,  which  did  not  entirely  satisfy  the  poet, 


134  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

belongs  to  June  of  the  same  year.  Another  means 
of  determining  the  date  of  such  poems  as  are  not 
mentioned  in  the  correspondence,  is  furnished 
to  us  by  Charles  Alexandre,  who,  as  we  know, 
was  private  secretary  to  Lamartine. 

He  writes,  for  instance,  that  one  day  in  Novem- 
ber, 1850,  at  Monceaux,  while  he  was  attending 
to  his  work,  Mme  de  Lamartine  came  in,  and  as 
it  was  Alexandre's  birthday,  she  offered  to  him  a 
manuscript  copy  of  the  Harmonies  as  a  gift  from 
her  husband.  Thus  we  can  determine  that 
VHymne  de  la  unit  was  composed  in  Florence  and 
not  in  Leghorn,  March  9,  1826;  VHymne  du  soir 
dans  les  temples,  already  mentioned,  bears  the 
date  of  March  27,  1826,  in  the  manuscript;  and 
the  Hymne  du  matin  bearing  the  date,  Florence, 
April  3,  1826,  offers  us  the  most  complete  refuta- 
tion of  the  story  of  Montenero,  if  we  were  not 
already  persuaded  of  its  mythical  character  by 
other  evidence.1 

We  print  below  the  chronological  table  of  the  Har- 
monies composed  in  Italy,  substantially  as  given  by  Allais 
(Souvenirs  sur  Lamartine  Paris,  Charpentier,  1885)  whose 
ideas  of  this  matter  are  in  accordance  with  those  we  have 


1  G.  Allais,  Lamartine  en  Toscane,  Paris,  Oudin  &  Cu 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE  135 

HARMONIES  COMPOSED  IN  ITALY 
(March  1826— August,  1828) 

HARM. 

1826  March  Florence  Invocation 1:1 

"     March                 "         Hymne  du  matin 1:3 

"     March  26            "         Hymne  du  soir 1:8 

"     Spring                 "         First  sketch  of  Jehovah  — 

"     Aug.  1  Leghorn  Poesie 1: 10 

"     Aug.  5  "         V 'Abbaye  de  V allombreuse  1:12 

"     Aug.                    "         Aux  Chretiens  etc 1:6 

"     Aug.,  Sept.         "         Hymne  de  la  nuit 1:2 

"     Sept.  17  Lucca       Pensee  des  morts II:  1 

"            ?                  ?         Invocation  pour  les  Grecs  IV:  3 

1827  January  Florence  Milly  ou  la  terre  natale  .  Ill :  2 
"  February  "  La  perte  de  VAnio.  ...  II:  3 
"     June  Leghorn  he  retour II:  17 

1828  March  Florence  Souvenirs  d'enfance ...  II :  14 
"     June  Casciano  L'Infini  dans  les  deux  11:4 

1828     (?)  Florence  Desir II:  16 

"                                "         Encore  un  hymne Ill:  1 

"                                "         fiternite  de  la  nature. . .  II:  20 

"                                 "         Pourquoi  mon  time  etc.  Ill:  12 

?  Leghorn  La  lampe  du  Temple .  .  1:4 

?  Florence  Impression  du  matin  etc.  11:7 

?                                "La  voix  humaine IV:  4 


But,  after  all  these  corrections,  the  important 
fact  remains  that  Lamartine,  the  language  ex- 
cepted, may  be  considered  as  an  Italian  poet. 
The  Italian  sky,  the  sea,  the  smiling  landscapes 
drew  from  his  lyre  the  sweetest  and  most  melodi- 
ous notes.  Surely,  written  far  from  Italy  they 
would  not  have  had  the  same  tone  or  charm. 


136  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

To  convince  ourselves  of  the  truth  of  this 
assertion  we  have  only  to  read  what  Lamartine 
himself  says  in  an  enthusiastic  description  of  his 
sojourn  in  Tuscany  (of  which  we  quote  only  a 
part) : 

. . .  J'habitais  un  de  ces  magiques  scours  [Villa 
Luchesini];  je  gravissais  souvent  le  matin  les  sen  tiers 
rocailleux  qui  m&nent  au  sommet  de  ces  montagnes, 
d'ou  Ton  apergoit  les  maremmes  de  Toscane  et  la  mer 
de  Pise.  Rien  n^tait  triste  alors  dans  ma  vie,  rien 
vide  dans  mon  cceur:  un  soleil  rSpercute*  par  les  cimes 
dories  des  rochers  m'enveloppait;  les  ombres  des 
cypres  et  des  vignes  me  rafraichissaient;  P6cume  des 
eaux  courantes  et  leurs  murmures  m'entretenaient; 
Thorizon  des  mers  m'61argissait  le  ciel  et  ajoutait  le 
sentiment  de  Pinfini  a  la  voluptueuse  sensation  des 
scenes  rapproch£es  que  j'avais  sous  les  pieds;  Famiti6, 
Famour,  le  loisir,  le  bonheur,  m'attendaient  au  retour 
a  la  Villa  Luchesini.  Je  ne  rencontrais  sur  les  bords 
des  sentiers  que  des  spectacles  de  vie  pastorale,  de 
felicite*  rustique,  de  s^curite*  et  de  paix.  Des  paysages 
de  Leopold  Robert,  des  moissonneurs,  des  vendan- 
geurs,  des  bceufs  accouples  ruminant  a  Fombre,  pen- 
dant que  des  enfants  chassaient  les  mouches  de  leurs 
flancs  avec  des  rameaux  de  myrte;  des  muletiers 
ramenant  aux  villages  lointains  leurs  femmes  qui 
allaitaient  leurs  enfants,  assises  dans  un  des  paniers; 
des  jeunes  filles  dignes  de  servir  de  type  a  Raphael,  s'il 
eut  voulu  diviniser  la  vie  et  Famour,  au  lieu  de  diviniser 
le  myst&re  et  la  virginite* ;  des  fiances  precedes  des 
yifferari  (joueurs  de  cornemuse),  allant  a  Feglise  pour 
faire  b6nir  leur  f61icit6;  des  moines,  le  rosaire  a  la 
main,  bourdonnant  leurs  psaumes  comme  Fabeille 
bourdonne  en  rentrant  a  la  ruche  avec  son  butin;   des 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE       137 

freres  queteurs,  le  visage  colore"  de  soleil  et  de  sant£, 
le  dos  pli6  sous  le  fardeau  de  pain,  de  fruits,  d'ceufs, 
de  fiasques  d'huile  et  de  vin,  qu'ils  rapportaient  au 
couvent;  des  ermites  assis  sur  leurs  nattes  au  seuil  de 
leur  hermitage  ou  de  leur  grotte  de  rocher  au  soleil, 
et  souriant  aux  jeunes  femmes  et  aux  enfants  qui  leur 
demandaient  de  les  b&iir:  voila  les  spectacles  de  cette 
nature! 3 

And  then  the  poet  sang ! 

3  Comment,  on  Pensee  des  morts. 


CHAPTER  VII 

DIRECT   INFLUENCE   OF   ITALY   ON   THE   HARMONIES 

An  interesting  question  for  us  to  consider  now 
is,  How  far  did  the  influence  of  the  Italian  scenery 
directly  inspire  the  Harmonies  f  A  full  answer  to 
this  question  would  require  a  volume  of  its  own, 
but  we  purpose  here  to  give  some  typical  illus- 
trations as  to  how  Lamartine  could  turn  into 
sublime  poetry  the  emotions  awakened  by  the 
Italian  landscapes.  It  will  not  be  necessary  for 
us  to  consider  those  Harmonies  which  deal  chiefly 
with  a  description  of  nature,  such  as  Poesie  ou 
Paysage,  L'abbaye  de  Vallombreuse,  La  perte  de 
VAnioy  etc.,  where  of  course  this  influence  is 
unqualified,  but  we  will  show  how  this  influence 
was  felt  and  how  it  acted  on  the  poet's  mind  even 
in  those  poems  that  are  not  entirely  of  a  descrip- 
tive character. 

Let  us  begin  with  Invocation,  the  first  of  the 
Harmonies,  written  in  Florence  in  the  Church  of 
Santa  Croce.  The  influence  of  the  place  is 
especially  felt  in  the  following  lines: 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE       139 

Mais  c'est  sourtout  ton  nom,  6  Roi  de  la  nature, 
Qui  fait  vibrer  en  moi  cet  instrument  divin ! 
Quand  j'invoque  ton  nom,  mon  cceur  plein  de  murmure 
R6sonne  comme  un  temple  ou  Ton  chante  sans  fin, 

Comme  un  temple  rempli  de  voix  et  de  pri&res, 

Ou  d'echos  en  6chos  le  son  roule  aux  autels ! 

Eh  quoi!  Seigneur,  ce  bronze,  et  ce  marbre,  et  ces  pierres 

Retentiraient  mieux  que  le  cceur  des  mortels? 

A  little  later  the  sight  of  the  sacrificial  cup  of  the 
mass  evokes  the  following  beautiful  similitude: 

Helas !  et  j'en  rougis  encore, 
Ingrat  au  plus  beau  de  ses  dons, 
Harpe  que  1'ange  meme  adore, 
Je  profanai  tes  premiers  sons; 
Je  fis  ce  que  ferait  Pimpie, 
Si  ses  mains  sur  l'autel  de  vie 
Abusaient  des  vases  divins, 
Et  s'il  couronnait  le  calice, 
Le  calice  du  sacrifice, 
Avec  les  roses  des  festins! 

And  still  a  little  further  on,  in  the  same  poem: 

. . .  Elevez-vous  dans  le  silence, 
A  Theure  ou  dans  Tombre  du  soir 
La  lampe  des  nuits  se  balance, 
Quand  le  pretre  eteint  Vencensoir! 


Qu'il  est  doux  de  voir  sa  pens6e, 
Avant  de  chercher  ces  accents, 
En  metres  divins  cadencee, 
Monter  soudain  comme  Vencens,  etc. 


140  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

VHymne  du  matin  is  even  more  inspired  by  the 
beauty  of  the  Tuscan  landscape.  The  poet  begins 
by  addressing  the  mighty  Ocean,  then  the  forests, 
the  birds,  etc.: 

Pourquoi  bondissez-vous  sur  la  plage  6cumante, 
Vagues  dont  aucun  vent  n'a  creusS  les  sillons?  etc. 

Pourquoi  balancez-vous  vos  fronts  que  Paube  essuie, 
For£ts  qui  tressaillez  avant  Pheure  du  bruit?  etc. 

Pourquoi  relevez-vous,  6  fleurs,  vos  pleins  calices, 
Comme  un  front  incline  que  rel&ve  Tamour?  etc. 

And  the  Harmonie  ends  with  two  stupendous 
descriptions  of  the  land  and  the  sea,  beginning: 

0  Dieu,  vols  sur  la  terre !  un  pale  crSpuscule 
Teint  son  voile  flottant  par  la  brise  essuy6;  etc. 

0  Dieu,  vols  sur  les  mers!  le  regard  de  Taurore 
Enfle  le  sein  dormant  de  TOc6an  sonore,  etc. 

UHymne  de  la  nuit  likewise  starts  with  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  sunset  and  the  starry  heavens  of 
Tuscany: 

Le  jour  s^teint  sur  tes  collines, 

O  terre  ou  languissent  mes  pas  !  etc. 

The  observation  of  the  clouds  floating  before  the 
sinking  sun  draws  from  him  the  following  beauti- 
ful invocation: 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE       141 

Dieu  du  jour  !  Dieu  des  nuits  !  Dieu  de  toutes  les  heures  ! 

Laisse-moi  m'envoler  sur  lesfeux  du  soleil! 

Ou  va  vers  V Occident  ce  nuage  vermeil  ? 

II  va  voiler  le  seuil  de  tes  saintes  demeures,  etc. 

The  sight  of  the  little  church  which,  as  he  tells 
us  in  his  commentary,  "s'eleve  comme  un  temple 
grec  en  vue  des  Sots,"  makes  him  exclaim: 

Que  tes  temples,  Seigneur,  sont  6troits  pour  mon  ame ! 

Tombez,  murs  impuissants,  tombez! 
Laissez-moi  voir  ce  ciel  que  vous  me  de>obez  ! 
Architecte  divin,  tes  d6mes  sont  de  flamme  !  etc. 

From  this  quotation  we  may  see  how  deli- 
cately attuned  is  the  influence  of  even  the  smallest 
detail  of  the  landscape  to  the  poet's  imagination. 

In  La  pensee  des  morts  the  poet  himself  con- 
firms what  we  are  saying  when  he  tells  us  in 
his  commentary  that  what  led  him  to  write  the 
Harmonie  was  perhaps  "simplement  la  vue  d'un 
de  ces  beaux  cypres  immobiles,  se  d^tachant  en 
noir  sur  le  lapis  6clatant  du  ciel,  et  rappelant  le 
tombeau."  At  any  rate  the  greatest  part  of  the 
poem  is  engaged  with  a  description  of  the  beauti- 
ful country  round  Lucca  during  the  winter  season : 

Voila  les  feuilles  sans  seve 
Qui  tombent  sur  le  gazon; 
Voila  le  vent  qui  s'eleve 
Et  gemit  dans  le  vallon; 
Voila  Perrante  hirondelle 
Qui  rase  du  bout  de  Paile 
Ueau  dormante  des  marais;  etc. 


142  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

In  this  last  verse  we  have  an  allusion  to  the 
stagnant  waters  of  the  "maremme"  which  are 
visible  from  the  place  where  Lamartine  was 
writing,  as  he  tells  us  in  the  commentary. 

Ulnjini  dans  les  cieuxy  the  fourth  Harmonie  of 
the  second  book,  written  at  Casciano,  is  directly 
inspired  by  the  beauty  of  an  Italian  night: 

(Test  une  nuit  d'6t£;  nuit  dont  les  vastes  ailes 
Font  jaillir  dans  Tazur  des  milliers  d'6tincelles; 
Qui  ravissant  le  ciel  comme  un  miroir  terni, 
Permet  a  1'ceil  charme*  d'en  sonder  Pinfini,  etc. 

La,  quand  souffle  la  brise,  une  colline  ondule; 

La,  le  coteau  poursuit  le  coteau  qui  recule; 

Et  le  vallon,  voile*  de  verdoyants  rideaux 

Se  creuse  comme  un  lit  pour  Tornbre  et  pour  les  eaux; 

Ici  s'6tend  la  plaine  .  .  . 

La,  pareil  au  serpent  dont  les  nceuds  sont  rompus 

Le  fleuve  . . . 

Et  plus  loin,  ou  la  plage  en  croissant  se  reploie, 


Un  golfe  de  la  mer,  d'iles  entrecoupS,  etc. 

Here  we  have  one  of  the  most  accurate  descrip- 
tions of  the  whole  landscape. 

This  is  also  true  of  Impression  du  matin  et  du 
soir}  which  really  contains  the  impressions  made 
on  the  poet's  mind  by  the  "paysage,"  seen  at 
rnorning  and  evening: 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE       143 

L'Orient  jaillit  comme  un  fleuve, 

La  lumiere  coule  a  long  flot, 

La  terre  lui  sourit,  et  le  ciel  s'en  abreuve, 

Et  de  ces  cieux  vieillis  Paube  sort  aussi  neuve 

Que  Paurore  du  jour  qui  sortit  du  Tres-Haut,  etc. 

La  terre,  6panouie  au  rayon  qui  la  dore, 
Nage . . . 

Les  ddmes  des  for&ts,  que  les  brises  agitent, 
Bercent  le  frais,  et  Pombre,  et  les  chceurs  des  oiseaux; 

Le  rivage  se  tait,  la  voile  tombe  vide, 

La  mer  roule  a  ses  bords  la  nuit  dans  chaque  ride,  etc. 

Et  la  foule  ressemble,  en  son  bruyant  delire, 

A  ces  aveugles  passagers 

Qui  prolongent  leur  veille  aux  accords  de  la  lyre,  etc. 

Even  a  cursory  reading  of  Ueternite  de  la  nature 
will  disclose  how  far  Lamartine  is  indebted  to  the 
Italian  scenery  for  his  inspiration,  and  it  is  no 
wonder  that  in  Le  retour,  addressing  Xavier  de 
Maistre,  he  exclaims  while  protesting  his  love  for 
Italy: 

Voila,  voila  mes  droits,  plus  chers  que  les  tiens  m^me, 
On  est  tou jours,  crois-moi,  du  pays  que  Ton  aime. 

Thus  he  makes  of  himself  a  citizen  of  Italy  by 
adoption. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

lamartine's  correspondence  and  the  chro- 
nology  OF   HIS   LIFE 

As  we  have  already  stated,  Lamartine  left 
Italy  in  August,  1828.  It  was  a  profound  sorrow 
for  himself  and  his  wife,  both  of  whom  loved 
Italy  and  had  come  to  consider  it  their  second 
country. 

Le  vent  diplomatique  me  poussera  dans  quelques 
mois  k  Londres.  Je  n'ai  pas  k  me  plaindre,  puisque 
c'est  le  plus  beau  poste  de  ma  carriere  et  le  plus  eleve* 
de  la  hiSrarchie  diplomatique,  avant  celui  de  ministre. 
Mais  un  rayon  de  votre  soleil,  mais  Inspiration  qui 
sort  de  vos  collines,  mais  la  belle  langue,  mais  tant 
d'hommes  comme  vous  et  vos  amis,  tout  cela  vaudrait 
mieux  encore  pour  moi.1 

Thus  he  wrote  to  his  dear  friend  Gino  Cap- 
poni  on  October  28,  1828.  Always  in  all  his 
letters  may  be  noticed  this  longing  for  Italy, 
which  he  loved  with  an  ardor  and  with  a  passion 
which  did  not  lessen  to  the  end  of  his  life.  Not- 
withstanding the  general  superficiality  and  levity 
of  Lamartine's  character,  it  must  be  acknowl- 
edged that  both  in  this  love,  and  in  his  devotion 
1  Corr.,  in,  117. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE       145 

to  friendship,  he  was  one  of  the  most  constant 
examples  that  may  be  found.  He  always  kept  the 
most  faithful  and  affectionate  remembrance  of 
his  Italian  friends.  In  his  most  cordial  letters 
to  Capponi,  with  whom  he  maintained  a  con- 
stant correspondence  to  the  end  of  his  life,  he 
never  forgets  to  mention  his  other  friends,  espe- 
cially Niccolini  and  Frullani.  The  very  letters 
which  he  wrote  to  his  French  friends  are  all 
sparkling  here  and  there  with  Italian  sentences, 
oftentimes  the  most  characteristic  and  difficult  to 
translate.  On  the  other  hand,  his  Italian  friends 
reciprocated  his  affection  and  attachment.  They 
often  wrote  to  him  long  letters  keeping  him  in- 
formed of  what  was  going  on  in  Italy.  Most  of 
these  letters  were  written  in  French,  simply  as  a 
compliment  to  the  poet,  because  Lamartine  both 
spoke  and  wrote  Italian  fluently.  Here  is  a 
sample  of  a  letter  written  to  him  by  Marquis 
Capponi,  September  12,  1829: 

. . .  Vous  rSpondre  tout  de  suite,  mon  cher  comte, 
comme  je  sens  le  besoin  de  le  faire,  ce  n'est  pas  decider 
la  question  qui  de  nous  deux  est  dans  le  bon  droit; 
car  vous  pouvez  egalement  croire  que  je  veux  m'ab- 
soudre  ou  vous  absoudre.  Tout  ceci  a  bien  peu  d'im- 
portance;  mais  il  en  a  pour  moi  une  assez  grande,  que 
vous  sachiez  que  je  tiens  infiniment  a  votre  souvenir, 
a  votre  amitie,  et  aussi  que  Frullani  et  moi,  nous  tenons 
aux  vers  par  vous  promis,  et  qui  auraient  pour  nous  le 


146  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

charme  additionel,  que  nous  croirions  vous  les  entendre 
dire  sous  les  sapins  de  Varramista.2 

A  year  had  hardly  elapsed  since  his  return  to 
France,  when  Lamartine  had  the  great  sorrow  of 
losing  his  mother,  whom  he  so  dearly  loved: 
"Chaque  jour  je  sens  plus  que  j'ai  perdu  la 
moitie*  de  ma  propre  existence.  .  . .  Jamais  je  ne 
me  consolerai  et  j'aurai  trop  raison."  3  While 
he  was  deep  in  his  sorrow,  he  received  a  letter 
from  Capponi  (who  did  not  know  of  the  sad 
event),  expressing  once  more  his  affection  for  the 
poet.  Gradually,  however,  the  sorrow  of  La- 
martine lost  its  sting,  as  he  gave  himself  up 
completely  to  a  life  of  activity. 

In  1830  he  was  received  into  the  French  Acad- 
emy, and  in  the  following  year  he  presented 
himself  as  a  candidate  for  parliament  in  two  de- 
partments, but  his  political  star  not  yet  having 
risen,  he  was  defeated.  This  led  him  to  quit  for 
a  time  the  field  of  active  politics  and  to  under- 
take his  voyage  to  the  Orient,  which  he  had  had 
in  mind  since  1828.  He  departed  for  the  Orient 
in  June,  1832,  with  his  wife  and  daughter,  and 
just  before  leaving  Paris  he  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  the  Italian  patriot  Poerio,  who  had  been 
exiled  for  love  of  Italy.    In  1833  Lamartine  was 

2  Lettere  di  Gino  Capponij  Le  Monnier,  1882. 

3  Corr.,  in,  176. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE       147 

already  back  with  his  wife;  but  alas  !  the  beauti- 
ful Julia,  the  light  of  their  eyes,  who  had  grown 
up  amid  the  mild  Tuscan  airs,  could  not  resist 
the  torrid  oriental  climate  and  had  died  in  Bey- 
rout.  It  is  easier  to  imagine  than  to  describe 
the  sorrow  of  the  unfortunate  parents.  In  the 
first  letter  that  Lamartine  wrote  to  Capponi 
after  the  sad  event,  though  he  does  not  name 
Julia,  yet  one  feels  that  her  image  is  always 
present  to  the  mind  of  the  bereaved  father.  His 
sorrow,  though  restrained,  reveals  itself  to  the 
friend  who  had  known  and  fondled  the  lovable 
child:  "Je  n'ai  pas  doute  de  vos  sentiments  dans 
mes  tribulations  et  dans  ma  profonde  infortune. 
C'est  un  coup  dont  mon  cceur  ne  se  rel&vera 
jamais.  La  vie  est  finie  k  qui  n'a  plus  d'avenir."  4 
While  at  Paris  Lamartine  never  failed  to  re- 
ceive and  to  welcome  to  his  house  the  Italian 
patriots  living  in  that  city.  Niccold  Tommaseo 
and  Giuseppe  Micali  were  among  his  most  fre- 
quent visitors.  During  the  next  fifteen  years 
his  political  star  made  a  most  rapid  ascent,  and 
he  reached  the  highest  place  of  honor  and 
power.  Even  then  he  wrote  to  his  friend  Giam- 
battista  Niccolini: 

...  If  you  speak  of  me  to  the  admirable  and  excel- 
lent Capponi,  tell  him  that  I  also  think  continually  of 

4  Corr.,  m,  331. 


148  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

him,  and  a  happy  day  of  my  sad  life  would  be  that  in 
which  all  three  of  us  should  meet  at  Varramista. . . . 
Be  sure  that  I  shall  always  be  worthy  of  the  name  of  a 
friend  of  yours,  and  if  ever  you  find  yourself  unable  to 
approve  of  me,  it  will  be  because  you  do  not  under- 
stand my  motives  at  the  distance  you  find  yourself 
from  our  tempestuous  stage. 

And  in  1867  he  wrote  to  Cesare  Cantu  about 
his  friend  Manzoni: 

Si  M.  Manzoni  se  souvient  de  Florence  et  de  moi, 
portez-lui  un  souvenir  qui  est  toujours  un  hommage 
quand  il  va  a  un  homme  tel  que  lui.5 

Thus  the  continuous  exchange  of  thoughts  and 
feelings  between  himself  and  his  Italian  friends 
contributed  to  strengthen  the  bonds  of  affection 
toward  the  "country  of  his  soul." 

5  Epistolario  di  A.  Manzoni,  note  n,  90. 


CHAPTER  IX 

LAMARTINE's  OLD  AGE  —  DANTE  AND  PETRARCH 
IN  THE  COURS  FAMILIER  DE  LITT&RATURE — 
ORIGINALITY   OF  LAMARTINE 

In  1856  the  glorious  ascent  of  the  poet  was 
ended.  After  a  series  of  triumphs,  of  errors,  of 
sorrows,  of  self-satisfaction,  the  poet's  star  had 
paled  and  almost  disappeared.  He  who  for  an 
instant  had  held  the  destinies  of  Europe  in  his 
hand,  was  living  almost  in  destitution  in  a 
modest  house  near  Paris.  It  was  then  that  he 
began  that  laborious  and  voluminous  work,  the 
Cours  familier  de  litterature,  of  which  he  also  be- 
came the  publisher  in  order  to  realize  pecuniary 
profit. 

With  his  well-known  vivacity,  fecundity  and 
facility  he  touched  every  theme,  from  Indian 
poems  to  Italian  poetry,  from  Job  to  Racine, 
from  Homer  to  David,  —  Mozart,  Cellini,  Schil- 
ler, De  Musset,  Cardinal  Consalvi.  It  is  a  break- 
neck excursion  through  every  age  and  through 
all  literatures,  in  the  course  of  which  we  know 
not  whether  to  admire  more  the  ever  sparkling 
form  or  to  wonder  at  the  slenderness  of  prep- 


150  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

aration  and  the  excessive  self-assurance  of  the 
author,  shown  in  those  twenty-six  volumes. 

One  of  the  "entretiens"  of  the  Cours  familier 
is  dedicated  to  Dante.  Strange  to  say  of  a  man 
who  knew  so  well  the  Italian  language  and 
literature,  Lamartine  never  understood  the  great- 
est of  Italian  poets.  In  this  particular  he  is  like 
another  acute  and  aristocratic  French  intellect, 
King  Francis  I  (not  to  speak  of  Voltaire);  King 
Francis  not  only  did  not  admire  Dante,  but  did 
not  even  wish  to  hear  his  work  mentioned,  though 
he  worshipped  art  and  poetry  in  general.  Yet, 
if  Lamartine  did  not  go  as  far  as  Francis  I,  who 
dared  call  the  Commedia  "ces  b6tises-l&"  in  the 
presence  of  Alamanni,  he  did  not  hesitate  to 
compare  it  first  to  the  songs  of  Ossian  and  later 
to  the  Arabian  Nights,1 

He  thus  profaned  the  austere  greatness  of  the 
Florentine  poet  who  appeared  to  him  to  be  too 
obscure  and  too  exclusively  Tuscan.  He  went 
even  so  far  as  to  say:  "Pour  dire  notre  sentiment 
d'un  seul  mot,  un  grand  homme  et  un  mauvais 
poeme."  2 

As  was  to  be  expected,  the  publication  of  these 
views  produced  a  storm  of  protests  from  literary 
critics  of  every  nation,  but  especially  from  the 

1  Cours  familier  de  litt.,  iv,  81. 

2  Cours  familier  de  litt.,  in,  372. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE       151 

Italians.  Guerrazzi  was  among  the  most  violent, 
and  the  famous  poet  Giovanni  Prati  among  the 
most  correct  and  dignified.  The  latter  wrote  a 
letter  to  Lamartine  ending  in  this  way:  "If  you 
deserve  punishment,  you  have  it  all  within  your- 
self—  that  of  not  understanding  Dante.  .  .  . 
You  are  like  a  poor  blind  man  who,  travelling  in 
the  midst  of  the  ocean,  does  not  see  the  immense 
greatness  of  the  waters,  the  glory  of  the  sun  and 
the  magnificence  of  the  tempest."  * 

However,  notwithstanding  what  he  perhaps 
thoughtlessly  wrote,  it  cannot  be  maintained 
that  Lamartine  entirely  misunderstood  the  gran- 
deur of  the  great  epic  of  Dante.  In  fact,  it  was 
the  Divine  Comedy  itself  which  suggested  to  him 
his  Poem  of  the  Soul,  which  in  its  entirety  remained 
in  the  state  of  a  mere  conception,  but  of  which 
the  Chute  oVun  ange,  Jocelyn  and  La  reine  des 
pdcheurs4  are  separate  episodes.  The  idea  of 
this  great  composition  came  to  him  as  he  was 
travelling  from  Naples  to  Rome. 

But  if  Lamartine  did  not  fully  understand 
Dante,  his  enthusiasm  for  Petrarch  was  un- 
limited, and  this  cannot  be  a  subject  of  wonder 
to  us.  He  went  so  far  in  his  admiration  for  that 
poet  as  to  pretend  that  in  the  blood  of  his  own 

3  Rivista  Euganea,  15  Genn.,  1857. 

4  This  last  he  had  written,  but  he  lost  it  while  travelling. 


152  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

mother  there  were  some  drops  of  that  which 
flowed  in  the  veins  of  Laura  de  Vaucluse,  the 
beloved  of  Petrarch:  "On  reve,  on  pleure  et  on 
prie  avec  ces  vers  divins  qui  ne  vous  enivrent  que 
d'encens.  Moi  je  considere  P6trarque  comme  le 
plus  parfait  po&te  de  P&me  de  tous  les  temps  et 
de  tous  les  pays  depuis  la  mort  du  doux  Virgile."  6 
The  poetical  compositions  of  Lamartine  bear 
the  marks  of  his  admiration.  Indeed,  we  may- 
say  that  the  note  of  originality  which  Lamartine 
contributed  to  French  poetry  was  an  inspiration 
from  Petrarch.  Sech6  rightly  remarks  on  this 
subject: 

II  est  impossible  de  nier  que  Lamartine  apporta 
a  la  poesie  francaise  une  note  nouvelle,  qu'en  chantant 
Tamour  ideal  et  platonique  sur  un  mode  religieux  il 
fit  pour  elle  ce  que  P6trarque  avait  fait  pour  la  poSsie 
italienne  avec  ses  Sonnets  et  ses  Triomphes  de  V  amour 
et  de  la  mort. . . .  Ce  sont  deux  voix  du  ciel  qui  se  r&- 
pondent  comme  deux  6chos  a  travers  les  si&cles.  On 
peut  leur  pr6f6rer  une  autre  musique,  mais  il  n'y  en  a 
pas  de  plus  £th6r£e,  de  plus  divine,  et  tant  que  le  rossi- 
gnol  a  qui  Ton  peut  reprocher  comme  a  eux  de  se  repe*ter 
toujours,  tant  que  le  rossignol  charmera  le  cceur  et 
Toreille,  Petrarque  et  Lamartine  auront  leur  admira- 
teurs  et  leurs  devots.6 

Lamartine  was  a  great  poet.  He  was  a  poet 
even  when  he  was  writing  history  and  when  his 
voice  thundered  from  the  parliamentary  tribune. 

5  Cours  familier  de  litt.,  iv,  4. 

6  S6ch6,  Lamartine,  p.  181,  note. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE       153 

He  was  a  man  of  heart  as  well,  but  his  principal 
characteristic,  both  as  a  man  and  as  a  writer, 
was  an  unpardonable  levity.  He  knew  that  he 
possessed  in  his  style  a  marvellous  instrument, 
unsurpassed  as  to  spontaneity,  richness  and  har- 
mony, but  he  used  it  without  giving  much  atten- 
tion to  the  subject-matter.  For  this  reason  the 
literary  output  of  Lamartine  is  enormous.  He 
wrote  almost  everything:  verses,  romances,  trage- 
dies; he  treated  of  history,  politics,  literature, 
always  in  the  same  sparkling,  poetical  form,  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  always  with  the  same  levity, 
with  the  immense  self-reliance  of  which  we  know. 
He  trusted  in  his  own  intuition,  and  more  than 
anything  else  in  a  kind  of  power  of  divination 
which  he  thought  he  possessed;  but  he  never 
had  any  serious  preparation.  And  what  he  was 
in  his  writings  he  was  also  in  his  life.  He  never 
corrected  himself,  and  from  the  hard  trials  which 
he  suffered,  he  did  not  learn  any  lessons,  as  far 
as  we  can  see,  so  that  in  this  respect  he  was  not 
like  "la  plupart  des  hommes"  who  "emploient 
la  premiere  partie  de  leur  vie  a  rendre  Tautre 
miserable."  7 

No  other  great  foreigner  can  be  considered  as 
being  in  so  many  ways  the  product  of  Italy. 

In  fact,  it  matters  very  little  what  physical 
7  La  Bruy&re,  Les  Char act. ,  Chap.  n. 


154         THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

characteristics  a  man  of  genius,  especially  an 
artist,  may  have  inherited  from  a  nation,  a 
people,  a  race.  His  artistic  personality  grows 
by  the  impressions  made  upon  him  by  the  things 
which  he  contemplates,  and  which  awaken  within 
him  emotions  that  find  their  expression  in  artistic 
manifestations. 

When  the  object  which  the  artist  has  con- 
stantly under  his  eyes  happens  to  be  one  which 
he  loves,  then  the  artist  is,  in  the  largest  degree, 
the  product  of  that  which  has  so  strong  a  hold 
upon  his  mind  and  heart  and  imagination.  And 
Lamartine  himself  has  told  us  that  Italy  was  his 
second,  his  greatest  country,  that  "of  his  eyes" 
and  "of  his  heart/7  "cette  Saturnia  tellus  si 
desir6e."  Surely,  "La  patrie  est  aux  lieux  oil 
Tame  est  enchain6e  !"  8 

We  cannot  close  this  study  without  a  final 
quotation  from  a  fellow-countryman  of  Lamar- 
tine—  Deschanel.  His  remarks  were  written  in 
commenting  on  a  sentence  in  Lamartine's  corres- 
pondence, where  he  says  to  de  Virieu:  "Je  lis 
les  sonnets  de  Petrarque  que  je  n'entendais 
:guere  en  Italie.  .  .  .  Je  les  entends  maintenant 
comme  du  francais,  je  ne  sais  pourquoi,  et  j'y 
trouve  des  choses  ravissantes." 9 

8  Voltaire,  Le  fanatisme. 

9  Cf .  Ch.  in,  Part  II  of  this  Essay. 


ON  ALPHONSE  DE  LAMARTINE       155 

"Ing&iu  !"  —  exclaims  Deschanel  —  "il  ne  sait 
pourquoi !  C'est  que  PItalie  elle-meme,  par  les 
yeux  et  les  levres  de  Graziella  lui  a  donne  des 
clartes  sur  P6trarque,  et  sur  bien  d'autres  choses  ! 
(ITest  que  PItalie  a  parle  h  sa  fibre  de  race  latine 
ausonienne !  C'est  que  PItalie  lui  a  ouvert  les 
yeux,  Pesprit,  le  cceur  et  les  sentiers  des  Muses. 
(Test  que  PItalie  sous  toutes  les  formes  et  par 
son  ciel  meme  lui  a  rev616  la  beaute !  C'est 
qu'elle  lui  a  donn£  deux  sens  nouveaux,  qui  n'en 
sont  qu'un,  V amour  et  la  poesie!" 

10  Deschanel,  Lamartine,  p.  50. 


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VITA 


Agide  Pirazzini 


Born  February  22,  1875,  province  of  Ravenna 
(North  Italy) ;  educated  in  the  public  schools  of 
the  city  of  Rome  (five  years);  Regio  Ginnasio- 
Liceo  Umberto  I,  Rome  (eight  years) :  student, 
Faculty  de  ThSologie  Protestante,  Paris;  gradu- 
ate, Secretarial  Department,  Y.M.C.A.  College, 
Springfield,  Mass.,  1896;  organized  Y.M.C.A. 
Rome,  Italy,  general  secretary,  1896-99;  direc- 
tor, evening  classes  Y.M.C.A.;  attended  lectures 
at  the  University  of  Rome  and  at  the  Methodist 
School  of  Theology;  student,  Drew  Theological 
Seminary,  Madison,  N.  J.,  1899;  B.A.,  Brown 
University,  1903;  M.A.,  1904.  Instructor, 
Romance  Languages,  East  Greenwich  Academy, 
1904;  B.D.,  Temple  University,  Philadelphia, 
Pa.,  1905;  S.T.D.  (in  course),  1908;  Head  of 
the  Department  of  Romance  Languages,  Temple 
University,  1907-8;  organizer  and  director  of 
the  Italian  Department,  Bible  Teachers  Train- 
ing School,  New  York  City,  1908;  student,  New 
York  University,  1909-12;  student,  Columbia 
University,  1916-17. 


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